The Dutch have a lot of traditions when it comes to their national budget, so the country got a little frazzled when the 2012 budget was somehow released a day early.

It did not help that someone who discovered the budget online, put a link to it on Twitter (News - Alert).

“Digital copies of the 213-page document spread like wildfire across Dutch websites,” The Associated Press reported.

The Dutch Finance Ministry confirmed the numbers in the budget, adding that the early publication was a "really dumb mistake," The AP says.

The Dutch are predicting for 2012: economic growth of 1 percent, inflation at 2 percent and a budget deficit of 2.9 percent.

The budget was supposed to be released Friday. But someone appears to have discovered it on the Internet by seeing whether it was posted online on the same web page as the 2011 budget, according to news sources.

One Dutch news site said the budget documents were “apparently found by hackers on a part of the government website which was not protected by a password.”

The Dutch do take their budget traditions seriously.

In the Netherlands, every third Tuesday of September is the official “Budget day.”

“The Queen arrives at the Binnenhof of The Hague in her golden carriage to deliver the Speech from the Throne. Later that day the Minister of Finance goes to the House of Representatives with the briefcase. On behalf of the government, he presents the national budget and the Budget Memorandum during the first meeting in the new parliamentary year,” according to a Ministry of Finance website.

In another recent story about the Dutch and their government’s use of computers, Dutch senators are now using iPads in their meeting hall located in The Hague, reports TMCnet.

The Associated Press (News - Alert) explains the move to the modern technology is a way to reduce paper use. It is expected to also improve efficiency and lower costs, TMCnet adds.