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The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located

in North-West Europe and with territories in the Caribbean. It is a parliamentary
democraticconstitutional monarchy. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to
the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and share
maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. The capital is
Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague.

The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and
South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces.

The Netherlands was one of the first parliamentary democracies. Among other
affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO,
OECD and WTO. With Belgium and Luxembourg it forms the Benelux economic
union. The country is host to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons and five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the
International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The first four are situated in The Hague as is the EU's criminal intelligence agency
Europol and judicial co-operation agency Eurojust. This has led to the city being
dubbed "the world's legal capital". The Netherlands has a capitalist market-based
economy, ranking 15th of 157 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom.

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The Netherlands has a very strong economy and has been playing a special role in the
European economy for many centuries. Since the 16th century, shipping, fishing,
trade, and banking have been leading sectors of the Dutch economy. The Netherlands
is the world's 10 leading exporting countries. Foodstuffs form the largest industrial
sector. Other major industries include chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical,
goods and tourism. Examples include (Unilever, Heineken), financial services (ING),
chemicals (DSM), petroleum refining (Shell), and electrical machinery (Philips,
ASML).

The Netherlands has the 16th largest economy in the world, and ranks 7th in GDP
(nominal) per capita. Between 1998 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP)
averaged nearly 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably
from 2001 to 2005 with the global economic slowdown, but accelerated to 4.1% in
the third quarter of 2007. Inflation is 1.3%, and unemployment is at 4.0% of the
labour force. By Eurostat standards, unemployment in the Netherlands is at 4.1%
(April 2010) ± the lowest rate of all European Union member states. The Netherlands
also has a relatively low GINI coefficient of 0.326. Despite ranking only 7th in GDP
per capita, UNICEF ranked the Netherlands 1st in child well-being. On the Index of
Economic Freedom Netherlands is the 13th most free marketcapitalist economy out of
157 surveyed countries.

Amsterdam is the financial and business capital of the Netherlands. The Amsterdam
Stock Exchange (AEX), part of Euronext, is the world's oldest stock exchange and is
one of Europe's largest bourses. As a founding member of the euro, the Netherlands
replaced its former currency, the "Gulden" (guilder), on 1 January 1999, along with
15 other adopters of the Euro. Actual euro coins and banknotes followed on 1 January
2002. One euro was equivalent to 2.20371 Dutch guilders.

The Netherlands' location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany,
with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Other important parts of
the economy are international trade,banking and transport. The Netherlands
successfully addressed the issue of public finances and stagnating job growth long
before its European partners. Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in
Europe with more than 4.2 million international visitors.

The country continues to be one of the leading European nations for attracting foreign
direct investment and is one of the five largest investors in the U.S. The economy
experienced a slowdown in 2005, but in 2006 recovered to the fastest pace in six
years on the back of increased exports and strong investment. The pace of job growth
reached 10-year highs in [Link] Netherlands moved up from the 11th position in
the Global Competitiveness Index to the 9th position in 2007.

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The Great Depression was a period of severe economic crisis in the 1930s, which
affected countries around the world, including the Netherlands. In the United States
the Stock Market Crash of 1929 is understood as the start of the Great Depression.
But in the Netherlands the depression started more gradually, in 1929-1931, while the
economy had been in a gradual decline for a longer period. In the Netherlands the
depression was significantly longer than in most countries, partly because of
structural characteristics of the Dutch economy and partly because of the policy of the
government. The refusal to drop the Gold Standard plays a central role. Depending on
the variables used the low point of the Great Depression in the Netherlands was
between 1933 and 1936, significantly later than in most other countries. The Great
Depression led to political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the
Dutch national-socialist party NSB. The depression in the Netherlands lessened at the
end of 1936, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II.

Due toneutrality in World War I, the Netherlands didn¶t face the problems of war
debts, war damage and population loss, which caused economic problems in other
European countries. But because of the international character of the Dutch economy
these problems also had their consequences for the Netherlands. Especially the unrest
and economic problems in Germany, one of the Netherlands main trading partners, in
the early 1920s plunged the Netherlands into a severe depression until 1925. After
1925, partly because of economic improvements in Germany, the post-war depression
in the Netherlands ended and the country rejoined the Gold Standard. But, among
others because of strong trade restrictions in Germany, this improvement was limited
and didn¶t cause an economic boom as in some other European countries and the
United States. In spite of these slight economic improvements the Dutch economy
struggled with structural problems in the period before the Great Depression. Trade
restrictions and economic protectionism had not fully disappeared after World War I,
and world trade failed to pick up again after the war. The Dutch economy had long
been dependent on international trade and finance (in 1929 an estimated 30% of the
GNP came from export), and especially the big shipping sector suffered from the lack
of trading opportunities. Another problem was the combination of high post-World
War I birthrates and increasing labour productivity, which meant that any increase of
demand didn¶t cause general welfare increase and a fall of unemployment.


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The Dutch guilder or florin has fallen in value in relation to the U.S. dollar and other

major European currencies. In 1995, 1 U.S. dollar was equal to 1.6057 guilders;

however, in 1999, one U.S. dollar equaled 1.8904 guilders. The weakness of the

Dutch currency has actually helped the nation's economy since it has made Dutch

products cheaper and therefore more marketable. In 1999, the kingdom was one of the

founding members of EMU. EMU created a single currency, the euro, for the EU

nations, which replaced national currencies in 2002. The euro is fixed at a rate of

2.20371 guilders per euro. Since its introduction, the euro has been weak against the

U.S. dollar. In 2000, 1 U.S. dollar equaled 0.9867 euros (when the euro was

introduced it was equal to US$1.1789). The low value of the euro is expected to

continue to help Dutch exports when the nation adopts the currency.

Banks in the Netherlands manage the transfer of funds and securities and handle

savings and checking accounts. The government-owned Dutch national bank, De

Nederlandsche Bank, or DNB oversees the banking system. The bank also oversees

monetary policy. As a member of the European System of Central Banks, DNB

coordinates with other European national banks on issues of monetary policy and

national economies, as well as the implementation of EMU. Foreign-owned banks are

allowed to operate in the kingdom according to the same rules and regulations as

Dutch [Link] 2002, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange celebrated its birthday as the

world's oldest stock market. The exchange has developed close ties with stock

markets in Belgium and Luxembourg, and almost half of the investments in the

Amsterdam Exchange come from foreign investors. The Amsterdam Exchange lists

972 different companies or investment institutions, of which 604 are Dutch and the

rest foreign-owned. In 1999, the total value of the exchange was 1.497 trillion euros.
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| GOOD AMOUNT OF EXPORTS

| FAVOURABLE TOURISM

| SUPPORT FROM OTHER NATIONS

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| HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

| POVERTY

| POLITICAL INSTABILITY

| HIGH INCIDENCE OF SOCIAL ILLS

| HIGH OUTSTANDING DEBTS


 
| INCREASE IN EXPORTS

| HIGH MOVEMENT INTO SERVICE SECTOR

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| NATURAL DISASTERS

| POLITICAL INSTABILITY

| GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCES

| LACK OF PROPER POLICIES


From the Swot Analysis, it is evident that the strengths of Netherland are much lower
when compared to its weaknesses. Thus, it is required for Netherland to work on
generating high revenues thereby, reducing unemployment, and poverty and also clear
its huge outstanding debts.




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