Netherlands

The Netherlands operated a full exchange rate target throughout, with growing alignment with and closeness to Germany, before EMU in 1999.

 

Years	Targets and attainment	Classification
1974-98	1974-78 currency in Snake (also Benelux ‘worm’ with narrower bands until March 1976), narrow margins, with one devaluation (of 2%) vs DM October 1978; monetary policy initially formulated partly in terms of ‘national liquidity ratio’, with bank lending controls as key instrument; 1979-98 currency in EMS with narrow (2.25%) bands; small realignments 1979 and 1983 (2% devaluation vs DM in each case); narrower margins vs DM in practice from mid-1980s, with bilateral agreement August 1993 to keep within band of 2.25% after widening of EMS bands; monetary policy from mid-1980s operated increasingly through interest rates and bank refinancing	full exchange rate targeting FERT
1999-2017	membership of European Monetary Union	currency union CU

Selected IMF references: RED 1979 pp30, 33-7; SR 1979 pp8-9; RED 1984 pp41-2, 43-4, 50; RED 1986 pp57-9; RED 1993 pp17-19; SR 1993 pp7-8; SBI 1994 pp45-9, 55-9; SI 1998 pp75-7, 102-3.

Additional source: Houben (2000, especially pp200-02, 316-17).

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