Dutch household spending shrank by 3% in November, compared with the year earlier period, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

This represents the biggest drop in consumer spending in over three years, the CBS said.

Spending on consumer durables, such as cars, furniture, clothes and shoes, was down nearly 12%, up from almost 11% in November.

Spending on food, alcohol and tobacco was down 2%. Rising fuel bills led to a 3.6% increase in spending on energy and petrol.

Earlier this month, the CBS said household budgets had shrunk by 2.4% in the third quarter of last year, the fifth consecutive quarterly drop.