Budget Day (known as Prinsjesdag, or ‘Prince’s Day’) on the third Tuesday in September, is when the government announces its plans for the coming year. King Willem-Alexander officially opens the coming parliamentary year by reading the Speech from the Throne on Tuesday 17 September.
After the ceremony in the ‘Hall of Knights’ the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wopke Hoekstra, goes to the House of Representatives with a ceremonial briefcase, where he presents the National Budget and the Budget Memorandum. These state how much money the government is making available for its various plans for the coming year, and where it is coming from.
On BNR Nieuwsradio Casper de Vries, Professor of Monetary Economics and Professor of Finance, talks about his focus points for the speech from the king.
First of all he thinks the income tax for multinationals is helpful for a balanced society and the togetherness in the country. Secondly, the fact that the purchasing power isn’t realized which can be attributed to risk factors such as the pensions. In case the government doesn’t come to the rescue, pension funds will have to cut. And last the investment fund. We don’t have to lend now if we can’t spend it now, because otherwise we set it aside with the same negative interest rate. An option would be to lower the government debt. Economically worse times may be around the corner, with the Brexit coming up and the trade war going on. Lowering government debt creates some space in these times, but is not necessary at this point.
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Listen to the entire item on BNR Nieuwsradio, 17 September 2019 (in Dutch).