Credit insurers reluctant
Government state support to credit insurers expires at the end of June 2021. It is only Whether the three major credit insurers will extend this support once again. The support has allowed many credit limits that ran into trouble because of corona to be maintained. But on the other hand, it has also cost the credit insurers a year's profit. When the aid goes away, credit limits on a number of companies will be withdrawn. Combined with the removal of government financial support to companies, this cannot help but lead to the necessary insolvencies.
EU invests 1.8 trillion
The Dutch government has taken many measures to support businesses in need and has poured billions of euros into business. But we should also look at the period after we have overcome the virus. From the European Union, at least, we can expect the necessary support. With the EU's long-term budget and the temporary recovery instrument NextGenerationEU, the €1.8 trillion poured into EU economy to recover from the pandemic. Spearheads here will be:
- Research and innovation, via the programme Horizon Europe.
- Transition to a climate-neutral and digital EU (Digital Europe).
- Preparedness, recovery and resilience, through the recovery and resilience facility rescEU and a new health programme, EU4Health.
- Modernisation of traditional policies, such as the cohesion policy and the common agricultural policy, so that they contribute as much as possible to EU priorities.
- Combating climate change, with 30% of EU funds the highest ever share of the European budget.
- Protection of the biodiversity and gender equality.
In turn, many sub-goals have been set on this large, overarching theme. The focus should be on a sustainable recovery of the economy so that these sub-goals can be financed.
Netherlands: new cabinet soon
And what about the Netherlands? The economy is expected to rebound quickly after the lockdown. There is lots of money in the market, most consumers have been saving heavily. That will lead to huge spending after the lockdown, most experts expect. During the economic boom of the past few years, the Rutte III government put the household books in good order, which allowed it to give the current support packages to business. But that money has to be recouped and the reserve pot must then be refilled for any new crisis.
So the upcoming elections will be crucial. We need a new government that decisively puts the economy back in order and makes the Netherlands financially sound again, just as it was before the corona crisis. A quick formation of a government is an important precondition for this. Hopefully, people in The Hague will also realise this and the daily corona events will not cause delays.
