Holland: "An Economy On The Brink"
1
April, 2013
Infamous
for little boys plugging holes with their fingers and grown-ups
plugging their mouth with their foot (D-Boom), it seems
Holland, Berlin's
most important ally in the goal of greater fiscal discipline in
Europe,
has fallen into an economic crisis itself. As Spiegel
reports,
the once
exemplary economy is suffering from huge debts and a burst real
estate bubble, which has stalled growth and endangered jobs.
The
statistics make for some worrisome reading: no nation in the euro
zone is as deeply in debt as the Netherlands, where banks have a
total of about €650 billion in mortgage loans on their
books;consumer
debt amounts to about 250% of available income - by comparison, in
2011 even the Spaniards only reached a debt ratio of 125%;
unemployment is on the rise; consumption is down; and growth has come
to a standstill.
The
trouble for Holland is that despite their proclamations of the need
for Fiscal conservatism, even EUR46 billion in austerity measures are
apparently not enough to keep the nation's deficit within the EU debt
limit. The Dutch were long among Europe's most diligent savers, and
in the crisis many are holding onto their money even more tightly,
which is also toxic to the economy, as "one
of the main problems is declining consumption."
The
nationalization on SNS in February brought this reality home and as
Spiegel reports, "there
is no end to the crisis in sight."
Source:
Spiegel
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.