New figures showing the Dutch budget deficit fell to 2.5% last year are good news but do not mean the cabinet cut spending too much, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.

The Dutch budget deficit fell to 2.5% in 2013, well below the EU’s 3% limit, according to new figures from the national statistics office CBS.

Despite the good news, Rutte said the government will press ahead with making more cuts in an effort to balance the books. ‘3% is the maximum deficit a country may have. What we are of course aiming for is a balanced budget,’ he said.

‘The cabinet is booking success with a good mix of cuts and reforms in order to get the government’s finances in order and realise strong economic growth,’ Rutte said.

Growth

The economy grew 0.9% in the fourth quarter of the year, compared with the previous quarter, according to the CBS figures. Despite the growth in the fourth quarter, the economy contracted by 0.8% in 2013 as a whole.

At the same time, the national debt rose by €16bn to €443bn or 73.5% of gross national product. This is well above the EU limit of 60% and was largely due to the nationalisation of the SNS financial services group last February, the CBS said.

Higher taxes

Government income rose €7bn to €285bn, mainly due to higher taxes – particularly income and energy taxes. This also meant households had less disposable cash to spend – a drop of 1.1% compared with 2012, when spending power fell 2.2%.

Wages rose by an average of 1.2% but inflation was more than double that at 2.5%

The absenteeism rate also fell to 3.9% – this means 39 out of every 1,000 workers were off sick. This is the lowest figure since the CBS began calculating the absenteeism rate in 1996.

People are less likely to stay off work sick because of fears they could lose their jobs, the CBS said. Since 2002, employers have been fully responsible for getting sick employees back to work.