A downward revision in second-quarter growth, a deeper decline in business confidence and a further dip in consumer spending all pointed on Thursday to more pain in months to come for the struggling Dutch economy. Even though the government recently improved its forecasts for growth and unemployment in 2010, Thursday's data made clear it would be a long road to that recovery.
"Overall of course the Dutch economy is in relatively bad shape still," said Aline Schuiling, senior economist at Fortis Bank Nederland. "The economy is not getting off the ground as quickly as other countries in the euro zone." Statistics Netherlands says second-quarter GDP declined 1.1 percent from the first quarter and 5.4 percent from a year earlier.
Those figures were worse than the initially reported 0.9 percent sequential decline and 5.1 percent annual decline it reported a month previously. Total consumer spending in July fell 2.1 percent, better than the revised 2.9 percent decline in June. However, spending on food, beverage and tobacco declined sharply month-over-month, even as all other categories improved. Schuiling said consumer spending in particular was being hurt by declining house prices and the weakness in the stock markets in the first half of this year.