Cabinet allocates €5 billion for sustainable economic growth and future prosperity

The committee advises the cabinet to allocate €5 billion from the National Growth Fund, with conditions still applying to part of these allocations (€3.7 billion). For €1.3 billion in reservations, additional steps must be taken before a final decision is made. The decision means the cabinet conditionally allocates or reserves a total of €6.3 billion. Projects are on average financed 50% from the fund and 50% by public and private parties. This means total investments for this round could exceed €12 billion in the coming years.

Minister Adriaansens: “Our current prosperity and the large government expenditures today would not have been possible without past investments. I want us to continue investing in society in the future. To pay for that, we need economic growth. The National Growth Fund makes that sustainable growth possible: the prosperity of tomorrow starts today.”

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the advisory committee: “We have a nicely varied package of proposals. Both large and bold (Einstein Telescope) and small projects with great impact, for example CROP-XR, for the rapid and efficient development of climate-resistant crops. The committee also finds it essential that investments are made in the quality of education and Lifelong Learning. Because we need more skilled workers to ensure projects are executed. A nice interplay of investments.”

The National Growth Fund started in 2020 with the goal of strengthening the sustainable earning capacity of the Netherlands. The National Growth Fund invests together with initiators in projects that ensure sustainable economic growth in the long term. Economic growth provides room to continue investing in healthcare, education, and climate change measures. Growth also leads to higher income, so we can maintain our prosperity in the future.

At its start, the National Growth Fund was allocated €20 billion for investments in knowledge development, infrastructure, and research, development & innovation. The coalition agreement stipulates that the infrastructure domain is removed from the National Growth Fund. This does not apply to the current second round, which was already underway. In the first round, the cabinet allocated €4.1 billion for (conditional) allocations and reservations to various projects. The first projects have now started.

In the second round, various ministries, in cooperation with public and private parties, submitted investment proposals to the Growth Fund. The cabinet wants that in the next, third round, companies, knowledge and educational institutions, governments, social organizations, and other parties can also directly submit their investment proposals to the National Growth Fund via a subsidy scheme. The House of Representatives approved the law enabling this subsidy scheme in March 2022. The Senate still has to decide on it.