The Dutch government finances have met European debt and deficit targets for the first time since 2008, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday.

The CBS says the national debt fell to €416bn or 56.7% of GDP by the end of last year, down from almost 62% in 2016. To meet EU targets, national debt should be below 60% of GDP.

In addition, the government now has a surplus of 1.1% of GDP, or €8bn. In total the government debt fell by €18bn last year and the treasury also benefited from €8bn from the sale of state shareholdings in ABN Amro, ASR and others.

The overall improvement was largely due to the rise in government income from taxes and premiums – up €13bn compared with 2016, the CBS said.