Dutch output may take long-term hit from crisis

Output of tech economy may emerge from the current crisis at a structurally lower level due to a sharp decline in world trade, putting the governments budget under pressure, a government think tank said on Tuesday. The Centraal Plan Bureau (CPB) confirmed last months expectations that the Dutch economy, which relies heavily on exports, will contract 3.5 percent in 2009, the biggest fall since World War Two.
The credit crisis could damage the economy in the medium as well as the short term. "It is therefore not unlikely that production in the Netherlands will remain at lower levels for a long time to come," it added.