Dutch economic growth reaches 2.1 percent
- 2.1 percent year-on-year growth
- 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter growth
- Export drives the economic recovery
- Partial recovery of investments
- Cautious recovery of job numbers
According to the first provisional estimate by Statistics Netherlands, the Dutch economy grew by 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010 relative to the same quarter in 2009.
Compared with the previous quarter the Dutch economy grew by 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2010, taking calendar and seasonal effects into account.
Exports growing substantially
The export volume of goods and services was 12 percent higher in the second quarter of 2010 than a year ago. The growth involves the exports of Dutch manufactured goods as well as re-exports. The exports of Dutch manufactured goods saw a 10 percent growth rate. There was much more demand abroad for Dutch chemical, metal and electrical engineering products.
Partial recovery of investments
Investments were down by 5 percent in the second quarter of 2010 on the year before. Investments in commercial real estate, houses, and civil engineering works were down considerably. However, the picture was not as gloomy as in the previous quarter. Investments in machinery and motor vehicles turned around and started showing positive growth compared to a year ago. Investments in computers continued to grow.
Household consumption remains slow
Dutch households spent 0.7 percent more in the second quarter than a year ago. This increase can be attributed to two things. Due to the cold weather households used more natural gas, and people bought more new cars in the second quarter.
Manufacturing industry is growing fast while the slump in construction continues
The Dutch manufacturing industry grew by more than 8 percent in the second quarter. The production in manufacturing increased across the board. Trade and transport benefited and grew by 7 and 6 percent respectively.
The slump in construction continues, but not as badly as in the first quarter of 2010. Production in the second quarter was down by 11 percent on the corresponding quarter of 2009.
Modest recovery of the number of jobs
There were 82 thousand fewer jobs of employees in the second quarter of 2010 than in the corresponding quarter of 2009. This constitutes a 1 percent decrease. After seasonal adjustments the number of jobs in the second quarter was up by 17 thousand on the first quarter of 2010. After 5 quarters of negative growth, this is the first positive growth, of 0.2 percent, in the number of jobs.