The Dutch economy grew by 7.8% in the third quarter of 2020, when compared with the previous quarter, according to new estimates from national statistics agency CBS.

The new figure is a slight upward revision on the 7.7% growth rate forecast published on November 13. The CBS said that household spending has been revised downwards but that government spending has increased, due in part, to the rise in hospital admissions.

Year-on-year, GDP declined by 2.5% in Q3, a figure unchanged from the earlier estimate.

Nevertheless, the overall economic situation has become ‘less unfavourable’ in December although the Netherlands is still firmly in recession, the CBS said.

By mid-December 10 out of the 13 indicators in the CBS’s Business Cycle Tracer were below their long-term trend.

However, the number of companies going bankrupt was low in November, the CBS said, while both consumer and manufacturing confidence had improved.