The Haarlemmermeer region, home to Schiphol airport and many related industries, was hardest hit economically in the first half of 2020, according to new calculations by national statistics agency CBS.

The CBS says the local economy in Haarlemmermeer contracted by between 27% and 29% in the second quarter of the year, when the pandemic was at its height.

The regions to emerge from the Q2 crisis in best shape were Almere and Delfzijl in the far north, where the local economies shrank by less than 6%.

On a provincial level, the impact of coronavirus is less obvious, with the biggest drop recorded in Noord-Holland (12% to 14%), followed by Limburg.

The government’s macro-economic forecasting agency CPB said earlier this week that without a further lockdown, the Dutch economy will shrink by some 5% this year.

While Dutch GDP was down 0.2% year on year in the first quarter, in the second it fell 9.3% when compared with 2019, the CBS said.