The Ministry of Finance (FIN) is the Dutch Ministry responsible for economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, tax policy, incomes policy, financial regulation, the government budget and the financial market. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance of the Batavian Republic. It became the Ministry of Finance in 1876. The Minister of Finance is the head of the Ministry and a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands. The current Minister is Eelco Heinen.

History

The ministry was founded in 1798. In the early history of the ministry, the Prime Minister often served as Minister of Finance. Pieter Philip van Bosse served as Minister of Finance five times. Since 1965 a State Secretary has been appointed each formation with responsibility for taxation. The most recent Prime Minister to serve as his own Minister of Finance was Jelle Zijlstra (1966–67).

Responsibilities

The ministry has the duty to "guard the treasury and aim for a financially sound and prosperous state of the Netherlands.

Organisation

The ministry is currently headed by one minister and two State secretary. The ministry's main office is located in the centre of The Hague at the Korte Voorhout. It employs almost 1,500 civil servants. The civil service is headed by a secretary general and a deputy secretary general, who head a system of four directorates general: It is also responsible for several decentralized services:

Holdings

A list of all companies (partially owned) by the Dutch government via the Ministry of Finance.

State holdings

List of companies of which the Ministry of Finance acts merely as shareholder.

Policy holdings

List of policy holdings in which the role of shareholder and policy maker cannot be unbundled from each other. These companies are (partially) owned by the Ministry of Finance and managed by the relevant ministry.

Temporarily financial institutions

NLFI is the shareholder on behalf of the Dutch Government in the financial institutions that are state-owned as a result of the financial crisis.