Netherlands
The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
- Central bank discount rate: 3% (3 May 2009)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 10.01% (31 December 2009)[1]
- is part of the Eurozone
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 411 456 | 385 075 | 400 654 | 437 807 | 538 313 | 609 863 | 638 487 | 677 367 | 776 122 | 871 004 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | 58.224 | 52.066 | 48.302 | 49.318 | 51.142 | 52.144 | 51.486 | 45.612 | 43.369 | |
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 40.826 | 40.688 | 39.775 | 38.914 | 38.647 | 38.941 | 39.264 | 41.228 | 40.768 | |
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 40.460 | 39.262 | 39.682 | 40.079 | 41.118 | 40.368 | 39.268 | 40.495 | 40.285 | |
| Debt to revenue (years) | 1.426 | 1.280 | 1.214 | 1.267 | 1.323 | 1.339 | 1.311 | 1.106 | 1.064 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_NL - ↑ World Bank. "Netherlands: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Netherlands: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Netherlands: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Netherlands: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
External links
- Netherlands on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Netherlands
- BBC country profile