Economics
Dutch Austerity Demands Risk Backfiring on Premier: Euro Credit
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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s demand for budget cuts in debt-laden southern Europe may backfire as the leader of one of the four remaining AAA euro countries struggles to narrow a bigger-than-planned deficit.
His coalition must find 9 billion euros ($11.8 billion) in budget cuts this year, equal to 1.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, to meet European rules and protect the top credit grade that France and Austria lost in January.