The Dutch government will make available (S$40 billion) to protect the financial sector against shocks from the world economic crisis, Finance Minister Wouter Bos announced on Thursday. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE HAGUE - THE Dutch government will make available 20 billion euros (S$40 billion) to protect the financial sector against shocks from the world economic crisis, Finance Minister Wouter Bos announced on Thursday.
'The Netherlands has many financial institutions. They now have certainty,' he told a news conference in The Hague.
'The idea (behind the move) is to prevent big problems.'
Last Friday, the government announced it would nationalise the Dutch activities of Belgian-Dutch banking group Fortis in a 16.8 billion euro deal aimed at preventing the US-born financial crisis from claiming another European victim.
And on Tuesday, the finance ministry said the government would increase its bank deposit guarantee to 100,000 euros from 38,000 euros. -- AFP
