The Netherlands has suffered the loss of its AAA credit rating after a downgrade from Standard & Poor’s.
The Dutch finance minister said it was “disappointing” but not surprising.
According to S&P, growth prospects for the Netherlands have declined and that it is not performing as well as its peers.
The country is the eurozone’s fifth largest economy.
Now only three eurozone nations retain an AAA rating from S&P – Germany, Finland and Luxembourg.
Elsewhere there are but seven countries with the coveted AAA – Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and Singapore. Rating agencies deem these economies are more stable than the eurozone’s three.
Earlier this month the country's central statistics office (CBS) said the Dutch economy had moved out of recession in the third quarter but with growth of only 0.1%.
