Minister Heinen is positive about the improvement in public finances but also points out that we should not be overconfident. “Our starting position is good. At the same time, there is still a challenge ahead. We cannot continue to rely on windfalls,” Heinen said.
Partial Use of Under-Expenditure
In recent years, ministries have often spent less money than originally budgeted (under-expenditure). This was partly due to projects being delayed because of the tight labor market. Therefore, the 2025 budget includes a €4.1 billion in-out task adjustment due to postponed expenditures and an additional €3 billion under-expenditure. Up to and including the Autumn Memorandum, €2.5 billion of this has been realized. There remains a challenge of €4.6 billion, which must be addressed in the Governments Financial Report.
In the 2025 Budget Memorandum and Spring Memorandum, plans on various budgets were scheduled more realistically. This has helped the government to better complete planned expenditures.
Deficit and Debt
The estimated budget deficit (EMU balance) of 1.8% of GDP is an improvement of 0.3% compared to the figure in the 2026 Budget Memorandum. This is mainly due to higher tax revenues. The national debt decreases by 0.9% to 44.2% of GDP. On Accountability Day (the third Wednesday of May), the final figures will be published in the Governments Financial Report.
