Debt guarantees

Debt guarantees in accordance with the European guidelines are agreements where the guarantor is committed to pay any damages the lender may suffer if the borrower defaults.

Debt guarantees provided by the government include:

• guarantees for interbank loans resulting from the financial crisis;
• guarantees for export credit insurance;
• guarantee schemes for specific sectors;
• guarantees provided to individual institutions.

Debt guarantees do not include:

• guarantees given within the framework of ESFM and ESM;
• guarantees provided by government within the framework of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF);
• guarantees of the financial derivative type;
• counter guarantees such as provided by the government to housing schemes such as Waarborgfonds Sociale Woningbouw (WSW) or Waarborgfonds Eigen Woningen (WEW);
• guarantees within the framework of the deposit guarantee scheme;
• guarantees for risks that are difficult to insure commercially, such as natural disasters and nuclear accidents.

The government generally reports the guarantees in its annual reports, using a wide definition of guarantees. For 2013 the Dutch government included 217 billion in guarantees in its budget.