Ministry of Finance (Netherlands)

Ministry of Finance
Dutch: Ministerie van Financiën
Logo of the Ministry of Finance

Building of the Ministry of Finance
Department overview
Formed12 March 1798; 226 years ago (1798-03-12)
JurisdictionKingdom of the Netherlands
HeadquartersKorte Voorhout 7, The Hague, Netherlands
Employees1,500
Annual budget€11.7 billion (2013)[1]
Minister responsible
Deputy Ministers responsible
  • Vacant, State Secretary for Tax Affairs and the Tax Administration
  • Nora Achahbar, State Secretary for Benefits and Customs
Department executive
  • Manon Leijten, Secretary-General
WebsiteMinistry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance (Dutch: Ministerie van Financiën; FIN) is the Dutch Ministry responsible for economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, tax policy, incomes policy, financial regulation, the government budget and the financial market. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance of the Batavian Republic. It became the Ministry of Finance in 1876. The Minister of Finance (Dutch: Minister van Financiën) is the head of the Ministry and a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands. The current Minister is Eelco Heinen.

History

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The ministry was founded in 1798. In the early history of the ministry, the Prime Minister often served as Minister of Finance. Pieter Philip van Bosse served as Minister of Finance five times. Since 1965 a State Secretary has been appointed each formation with responsibility for taxation. The most recent Prime Minister to serve as his own Minister of Finance was Jelle Zijlstra (1966–67).

Responsibilities

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The ministry has the duty to "guard the treasury and aim for a financially sound and prosperous state of the Netherlands.

  • It is responsible for the income and expenditure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  • It collects the taxes and develops fiscal legislation.
  • It seeks to expend the budget of the government responsibly, efficiently and effectively.
  • It is also responsible for financial-economic policy.
  • It supervises the financial markets, banks and financial transfers.

Organisation

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The ministry is currently headed by one minister and two State secretary. The ministry's main office is located in the centre of The Hague at the Korte Voorhout. It employs almost 1,500 civil servants. The civil service is headed by a secretary general and a deputy secretary general, who head a system of four directorates general:

  • General Treasury (financial economic policy), led by the Treasurer-General[2]
    • Agency of the General Treasury
    • Directorate Financing
    • Directorate Financial Markets
    • Directorate Foreign Financial Relations
  • Directorate General for the Budget[3]
    • Directorate Budget Affairs
    • Inspection of National Finances
  • Directorate General for Fiscal Affairs[4]
    • Directorate General Fiscal Policy
    • Directorate Taxation Management
    • Directorate International Affairs and Excise Tax
  • Directorate General for Taxation

It is also responsible for several decentralized services:

Holdings

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A list of all companies (partially owned) by the Dutch government via the Ministry of Finance.[5]

State holdings

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List of companies of which the Ministry of Finance acts merely as shareholder.

Company (abbreviation) Share Sector Country of operation
Holland Casino N.V. 100% Gambling  Netherlands
Invest-NL N.V. 100% Finance
De Nederlandse Investeringsbank voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. 100%
SRH N.V. 100%
Centrale Organisatie Voor Radioactief Afval (COVRA) 100% Nuclear waste management
Nederlandse Gasunie N.V. (Gasunie) 100% Energy  Netherlands
 Germany
TenneT Holding B.V. 100%
Ultra Centrifuge Nederland N.V. (UCN) 100%  Netherlands
 United Kingdom
Nederlandse Spoorwegen N.V. (NS) 100% Transport  Netherlands
 United Kingdom
 Germany
Nederlandse Loterij B.V. 99% Gambling  Netherlands
Luchthaven Schiphol N.V. 69,77% Infrastructure  Netherlands France
 United States
 Australia
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO) 51% Finance  Netherlands
BNG Bank 50%
Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V. 29,2% Infrastructure  Netherlands
 Brasil
 Oman
 Indonesia
Nederlandse Waterschapsbank N.V. (NWB Bank) 17,2% Finance  Netherlands
Air France-KLM 14% Transport  Netherlands
 France
KLM 5,92%  Netherlands
Thales Nederland 1% Defence

Policy holdings

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List of policy holdings in which the role of shareholder and policy maker cannot be unbundled from each other. These companies are (partially) owned by the Ministry of Finance and managed by the relevant ministry.

Company Share Sector Ministry
ProRail B.V. 100% Infrastructure Ministry of Infrastructure

and Water Management

 Netherlands
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) 100% Finance Ministry of Finance
EBN B.V. 100% Energy Ministry of Economic Affairs

and Climate Policy

Saba Statia Cable System B.V. (SSCS) 100% Communication Ministry of the Interior

and Kingdom Relations

 Saba
Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij oost Nederland N.V. (Oost NL) 54,6% Private equity Ministry of Economic Affairs

and Climate Policy

 Netherlands
Industriebank Limburgs Instituut voor Ontwikkeling en Financiering N.V. (LIOF) 50%
Noord-Nederlandse Investerings- en Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij N.V. (NOM) 50%
Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM) 49,9%
Investeringsfonds Zeeland B.V. 47,3%
Innovation Quarter B.V. 40,2%
GasTerra B.V. 10% Energy
Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider (DC-ANSP) 7,95% Infrastructure Ministry of Infrastructure

and Water Management

 Curaçao
Winair 7,95% Transport  Sint Maarten
Saba Bank Resources N.V. (Saba Bank) 2,8% Energy Ministry of Economic Affairs

and Climate Policy

 Saba

Temporarily financial institutions

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NLFI is the shareholder on behalf of the Dutch Government in the financial institutions that are state-owned as a result of the financial crisis.

Company Share Sector Country of operation
Stichting administratiekantoor beheer financiële instellingen / NL Financial Investments (NLFI) 100% Finance  Netherlands
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. 56%
Volksbank N.V. 100%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ (in Dutch) IX Financiën en Nationale Schuld, Rijksoverheid, 18 September 2012
  2. ^ "Generale Thesaurie". Rijksoverheid (in Dutch). 22 March 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Directoraat-generaal Rijksbegroting". Rijksoverheid (in Dutch). 22 March 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Directoraat-generaal voor Fiscale Zaken". Rijksoverheid (in Dutch). 22 March 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  5. ^ Zaken, Ministerie van Algemene (2020-08-25). "Staatsdeelnemingen in 2019 - Staatsdeelnemingen - Rijksoverheid.nl". www.rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-03-10.
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