World Trade - August 2008 - (Page 27)

coming elections. The holding of those legislative and presidential elections in the ﬁrst three months of 2008 could loosen up the current wait-and-see situation. Netherlands The economy continued to expand strongly in 2007, driven by exports and domestic demand. Despite production slowdown affecting gas products early in the year, exports continued to grow buoyed by re-export activity, representing about 50 percent of the total and chemical industry performance. A dynamic job market spurred household spending. Companies continued to invest meanwhile albeit at a more moderate pace. With less-than-expected growth of royalties from natural gas exploration, however, the public sector ran another budget deﬁcit. Although the same economic engines will drive growth in 2008, most will be less buoyant. Moderating demand from the main European trading partners, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, will limit export growth. The current account balance will nonetheless continue to show a large surplus. Increased taxes and social security contributions, high interest rates and an upsurge in inﬂation will undermine household spending. This negative impact will nonetheless be partially offset by the pressures buffeting the job market with unemployment declining to record lows and a labor shortage driving wages higher. Companies, meanwhile, will slow the pace of their investments in view of the more difﬁcult conditions of access to credit and the deterrent effect of higher labor costs. The new tax and social measures included in the 2008 budget in conjunction with the growth of revenues from natural gas exploration will allow the government to run a slight surplus that will help fund spending on health, pensions and education and repayment of public debt. Bankruptcies continued to decline in 2007, down 23.3 percent over the ﬁrst nine months, a positive trend reﬂected by the Coface payment incident index, which has remained below the world average. The world demand slowdown could weaken the less robust companies in the very export-dependent manufacturing sector. The scarcity of skilled labor will moreover have a greater effect on labor-intensive companies and those relying labor with cutting-edge skills. Despite an increase in corporate tax, which nonetheless spared smaller companies, corporate ﬁnancial health should remain good overall in 2008. WT The Coface Group is a world leader in trade-risk management, serving over 100,000 clients in 93 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.coface-usa.com. For reprints of this article, please contact Cindy Williams at williamsc@bnpmedia.com or 610-436-4220 ext. 8516. WTM08084GTnexus2.indd 1 WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM 7/14/08 3:00:17 PM 27 http://www.coface-usa.com http://www.gtnexus.com http://www.gtnexus.com http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - August 2008

World Trade - August 2008 Contents Weathering the Storm Helping the World’s Poorest Nations Benefit from Global Trade Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds World Trade’s Top U.S. Trading Partners LTL Shipping ‘On the Fly’ Air Cargo Flies a New Heading Getting More from China Sourcing Why 3PLs Need a Seat at the C-TPAT Table Performance-based Supply Chains Drive Total Lifecycle Value SmartWay Navigates Sustainable Transportation Around the World in 80 Days—Hours—Minutes

World Trade - August 2008

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