Corona

How does the pandemic affect our economy?

In our December 2020 issue of Economic Developments and Outlook, we observe a deep economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but less severe than previously feared. We will issue our next projections in June 2021.

Coronavirus crisis puts Dutch financial sector to the test

So far, the financial sector has managed to absorb the shocks that resulted from the pandemic. Banking supervision and European collaboration in this areas have improved since the 2008 credit crisis. As a result, banks have sufficient cash, allowing them to continue lending to households and businesses. Even so, we must prevent the economic crisis from spilling over to the financial sector. Our most recent Financial Stability Report  explains how we minimise economic fallout.

What we did to support households and businesses 

We are pulling out all the stops to minimise the ramifications of the COVID-19 crisis, together with other financial authorities at home and abroad, such as the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the European Central Bank (ECB). In March, we gave banks additional leeway in order to maintain lending levels and absorb any losses. We lowered their buffer requirement to do so.

>Find out how we support lending 

How the ECB supports households and businesses

The ECB has taken various measures to provide support in these uncertain times. For example, it announced the launch of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, as well as measures to support banks, allowing them to continue their lending operations.