The Dutch economy shrank by 4% in 2009 but grew 0.3% in the final three months compared with the third quarter, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

Year on year, the economy contracted 2.2% in the final quarter.
The economic decline is the biggest in Dutch recent economic history, the CBS said. The previous record dates from 1931, when the world economy shrank by 3.6%. In 1982, the biggest post-World War II economic decline of 1.2% was recorded.