Economy of the Netherlands
The Netherlands is one of the most developed countries of the world. It has many industries and agriculture on a very high level of productivity. Netherlands being the small country is a big player in the world's trade and the global transfer of capital.
The biggest world’s companies as Shell and Unilever as well as the banking giants ING Group and ABN AMRO are based in the Netherlands.
GDP : US$350 billion
GDP per head : US$22,000
Annual growth : 2.7%
Inflation : 3,5%
Currency : Euro
Industries: electronics, chemical industry, automobile industries (trucks, cars, parts), shipping, agriculture, horticulture, service industries, banking, media.
Natural resources: natural gas and petroleum ( North Sea drillings), peat, limestone, salt, sand and gravel.
Major trading partners: EU (Germany being the biggest trading partner, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, UK), USA.
Member of the European Union : from 1951, one of the founder members. Schengen agreement participant and eurozone member. In the referendum of 2005, the Dutch rejected the project of the European constitution.