Dutch Economy Expands In Q2

(RTTNews) - The Netherlands' exited a recession with strong growth in the second quarter, underpinned by private consumption and trade, preliminary estimates from the statistical office CBS showed Tuesday. Gross domestic product grew 3.1 percent from the first quarter, when output fell 0.8 percent. In the fourth quarter, the economy stagnated. In the second quarter of 2020, the economic output had dropped a massive 8.4 percent sequentially as the coronavirus pandemic severely hurt economic activity across the world. Household consumption grew 5.7 percent and state spending increased 2.6 percent. Exports rose 4.0 percent and imports climbed 2.6 percent. Investments shrunk 1.8 percent. The trade, transport and hospitality sector, the government sector, education and care sector and the industrial sector had a major share in the quarter-on-quarter growth in GDP, the statistical office said. On a year-on-year basis, the economy grew a record 9.7 percent in the second quarter, the CBS said. In the first quarter, GDP decreased 2.2 percent annually, revised from 2.4 percent. "The exceptionally high growth in the second quarter of 2021 is also mainly the result of a severe lockdown in the second quarter of last year, when GDP contracted sharply," the CBS said. The size of the economy in the second quarter of 2021 was still 0.4 percent smaller versus two year ago, the agency added.