Even though the budget deficit will remain above the eurozone target of 3%, the government should not now announce new austerity measures, the head of the CPB forecasting agency says in Thursday’s Financieele Dagblad.

Ministers should trust in their current strategy, Coen Teulings is quoted as saying.
‘The coalition agreement means the Netherlands will be fine. In the long term, the strategy will lead to growth so there should be no fast measures,’ Teulings said. ‘The man in the street needs to know where he is.’
March 2013
On Wednesday, the CPB issued new figures showing the economy will shrink by 0.5% next year, and the budget deficit will remain at 3.3%. The CPB in September forecast growth in 2013 and that the deficit would drop to 2.7%.
In a reaction, ministers said they would wait for the spring forecasts in March before deciding what action to take.
Teulings told the FD this would not be sensible, because of the need for clarity in terms of the economy. ‘Keeping calm is important, and taking panic measures would be very bad,’ he said.