Economic growth hits 0.8% in Q3, ahead of eurozone and US

The Dutch economy grew by an estimated 0.8% in the third quarter of this year when compared with the second, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

In addition, the Netherlands is performing better than the eurozone as a whole, the CBS said. Analysts had expected a lower figure, with those polled by Bloomberg forecasting just 0.2% growth.

Economic growth was also up 1.1% in the second quarter, an upward revision of 0.1 percentage point on the earlier estimate. Higher government and consumer spending are behind the increase, chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said.

Consumer spending rose 0.8% year on year as people spent more on clothing, household goods and energy. The figure reflects higher volumes rather than price increases.

In September, consumer spending was up 2.6%.

Government spending was also up 0.8%, with expenditure on healthcare and public transport leading the way. Investments were up 0.7% due to an increase in spending on construction and car and machinery sales.

In France the economy grew by 0.4% in the third quarter while in Belgium and Germany the figure was closer to 0.2%. The Netherlands even did “slightly better” than the US, where the economy grew 0.7%, Van Mulligen said.

Year on year, economic growth hit 1.7% in the third quarter. The full-year figures will be published in February next year.