Economic growth next year will be significantly lower than the 1.25% forecast by the government in September when it announced its national budget plans for 2009, reports Saturday’s NRC.

Following the weekly cabinet meeting on Friday, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and finance minister Wouter Bos warned that growth could even fall ‘towards zero’, the paper says.
And while the cabinet does not as yet expect to make cuts, there will be no room for extra expenditure next year. This means that if government spending rises, for example in the area of social services, cuts will have to be made to compensate, the paper says.
‘The Dutch will have to get used to the fact that it is not going well with the economy,’ Bos is quoted as saying in what is his most sombre prognosis to date.
Balkenende also confirmed that any profits made from the stakes the state has bought in financial services group Fortis, and the ABN Amro and ING banks will be used to lower national debt.