Dutch food industry most vulnerable to hard Brexit, says PBL
Britain’s withdrawal from the EU will initially weaken the Dutch food industry and will also have a negative impact on agriculture, the chemicals industry and trade, according to research by the Dutch environmental assessment agency PBL.
At the same time, financial service providers, travel organisations and telecom firms will benefit from Brexit, the PBL said on Tuesday. The report is based on a no-deal Brexit in which free trade and transport stops overnight and excludes the likely impact of government and consumer reactions.
The report also shows that there will be wide regional variations in the impact of Brexit. Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland and Noord-Brabant, which have large economies, will be less severely affected than the smaller provinces because they are less dependent on Britain, the PBL said.
They are also home to more service-orientated firms, which are likely to benefit more from Britain’s departure from the EU.
The IMF said last year that the Netherlands is one of the countries which will be most affected in the event of a ‘hard’ Brexit.
Should Britain pull out of the EU without any fixed trade deal in place in March, the Dutch national income would fall by 0.7%, the IMF said.
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