Government & open data
Centraal Planbureau
CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis describes itself as an independent institute that researches the Dutch economy and how socio-economic policy in the Netherlands can be improved. It is one of the three planning bureaus named in the Dutch Guidelines for the Planning Bureaus (Aanwijzingen voor de Planbureaus), alongside the Netherlands Institute for Social Research and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. CPB makes the economic projections that, according to CPB, form the official basis for the government's budget. It also publishes economic analyses on themes such as public finances, labour, healthcare and climate.
Go to the publisher’s websiteWhich products consult this source
BEVER: Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
Availability depends on your organisation’s configuration and access rights.
What this source does not give you
A CPB projection is a forecast, not a standard and not a decision: it works with the policy and data known at the time it is made, and a later projection may revise the figures of the previous one. Always state which projection and which year you cite. The projections also cover the Netherlands as a whole; a national figure for purchasing power or the government balance does not say what happens in a single municipality.
Frequently asked questions
- Which projections does CPB make, and when are they published?
- CPB makes three projections every year. In spring it publishes the Central Economic Plan (CEP), which it is required by law to produce. In preparation for Budget Day it releases the draft Macro Economic Outlook, and on Budget Day itself the final Macro Economic Outlook. At the start of each election period CPB also publishes a four-year medium-term outlook, whose figures are updated with later projections.
- Can a minister decide what CPB concludes?
- No. Under guideline 4 of the Guidelines for the Planning Bureaus, a minister or state secretary gives a planning bureau no instructions on its research methods or on the content of its reports. The act on the preparation of a Central Economic Plan also gives CPB its own advisory body, the Central Planning Committee, which advises the management on its work. Every three to five years an external review committee assesses its scientific quality.
- What does BEVER use CPB for?
- When a question concerns the economy or public finances, BEVER searches the publications on cpb.nl live and can read the publication it finds, which at CPB usually includes the full report as a PDF. Think of the economic context for a budget debate, a purchasing-power trend or the assessment of a policy measure. The answer cites the publication, so you can check the passage yourself.
- Can I find assessments a parliamentary party commissioned in confidence through BEVER?
- No. Planning bureaus may assess proposals or alternative budgets from, for example, parliamentary parties or social partners in confidence, and the requester decides whether the result becomes public. Once the requester shares the analysis with others, the bureau publishes the request and the analysis. BEVER reads only what CPB has made public on cpb.nl; an assessment that has not been published is therefore not something BEVER can find.