The cabinet does not plan to make major cuts in its plans to cope with the unexpected increase in the budget deficit, finance minister Wouter Bos said on Tuesday.

Bos, who is currently preparing the traditional spring budget statement, confirmed the deficit is higher than expected but declined to give a figure.
Reports last week put the deficit at 1%, five times the expected figure. Rather than make sharp cuts, ministers can take long-term measures to bring their budgets under control, ANP reported Bos as saying.
Liberal (VVD) leader Mark Rutte attacked Bos for not intervening immediately and asserting his control over government finances.