Economic growth slows, no reason for concern says minister

The Dutch economy has grown for the sixth quarter in a row but the rise is flattening out, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

The economy grew by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2015, compared with the second quarter, but is up 1.9% on 2014, the CBS said. Quarter on quarter growth was 0.6% in the first half of the year.

The rise is due to increased investments, more exports and more consumer and government spending, the CBS figures show.

The reduction in gas production from Groningen because of the earthquake risk depressed the growth figure by 0.5 percentage point compared with last year.

Despite the slowdown, economic affairs minister Henk Kamp said the figures show there is growth across the entire economy. The tempered growth in the third quarter is not a reason to be worried but does mean we should be alert, Kamp said.