The government’s macro-economic advisory agency is considering drawing up a second economic forecast for this year’s budget which will reflect a more uncertain future, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

‘We have not yet taken a decision but are considering the option,’ CPB economist Johan Verbruggen told the paper. ‘We are looking at what we still can achieve in the two weeks we have left.’
The CPB’s annual economic forecast is central to the annual budget plans, which are formally presented on the third Tuesday in September. The paper says ministers are meeting over the next two weeks to fine-tune the proposals.
The forecast looks at growth, world trade, unemployment and spending power, all of which will be hit if the economic prospects worsen.

Finance minister
Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager has already sent a briefing to MPs explaining that the European debt crisis will impact on government spending because the guarantee period has been extended.
And any increase in the size of the European emergency fund will also ‘impact on the credit worthiness of countries extending the guarantees,’ he wrote.