Today it means: An increase in the value derived from the natural-resources sector of the economy, leading to a rise in the valuation of the currency increasingly based on the natural-resources sector, and thus causing a deterioration in the manufacturing sector by making the manufactured goods less competitive in the export marketplace compared to those manufactured by economies with lower valuation currencies, because they are relatively more expensive. Full definition →
Coined by The Economist magazine in 1977, to describe the situation in the Netherlands where a natural resources find of a large natural gas field caused the Dutch guilder to rise in valuation, depressing exports and causing the manufacturing sector to decline, that occurred after 1959.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.