Early estimates suggest the Dutch economy grew by 5.3% year on year in the second quarter of 2022, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday. Quarter on quarter the growth was 2.6%, despite fears that the Netherlands could be heading for a recession.

Exports and investments are the main motor behind the increase in the growth rate, the CBS said. Consumer spending was also up 7% over the quarter, although this had gone down to 5.2% in June.

‘The Dutch economy is still going full steam ahead,’ CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said at the presentation of the figures.’There has been considerable talk about a recession in the past few weeks, but today’s figures show this is far from the case.’

The growth in consumer spending was driven by the service industry, such as tourism, cafes, and hairdressers following the end of the last of the coronavirus restrictions, he said.

Part of the investment which drove growth in the second quarter was one-offs, in the forms of investment in ships or planes. By contrast, he said, exports are more stable and there is ‘still plenty of demand for the products we export.’

The Dutch economy is performing much better than in surrounding countries, Van Mulligen said. ‘The EU quarter on quarter average is 0.6% but 0.5% or less in our most important trading partners.’