The outgoing cabinet has reached agreement on €3.2bn in spending cuts as part of a holding budget before the new government takes office, news agency ANP reported on Friday.

The combined cuts will reduce the budget deficit by 1.5 percentage points, according to finance ministry calculations. That means the budget deficit will be slightly above 4% next year.
The plans will be published on the third Tuesday in September as usual. But no controversial policy measures are expected because the cabinet is acting in a caretaker capacity.
Insiders expect a new cabinet, made up of the CDA and VVD, will have been finalised by then but it will be too late to make significant changes to the 2011 spending plans.
Caretaker finance minister Jan Kees de Jager is expected to stay on at the ministry if the cabinet formation talks succeed.