The Dutch economy shrank at the fastest rate since World War Two in the first quarter, driven by double-digit contractions in business investments, exports and imports. Gross domestic product (GDP) declined at a rate of 4.5 percent in the first quarter over a year earlier, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) said on Friday, worse than the consensus forecast of 3 percent and the low-end forecast of 3.8 percent in a Reuters poll.
Quarter-on-quarter, GDP declined 2.8 percent, a record decline for the country, the euro zone's 5th-largest economy. The consensus forecast was -1.5 percent and the low-end forecast was a contraction of -2.5 percent in a Reuters poll. Leading up to the report, economists had said a decline of 2 percent would not surprise them, but that a greater decline would.
Business investment declined at a rate of more than 12 percent in the quarter, while exports of goods and services fell nearly 12 percent. Only government investment and government consumption moved higher in the period. The statistics bureau also said the 2.4 percent year-on-year decline in private consumption was the first in four years. Sales of durable goods were significantly lower, especially purchases of cars.
Comments
Comments are closed.