The Dutch re-entered recession in the first quarter largely due to the fall in household and government spending, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent sequentially, following a 0.1 percent drop in the previous quarter. However, this was slower than the 0.6 percent decline expected by economists.
With the two consecutive contraction, the economy slipped into a technical recession in the first quarter. The economy had rebounded 7.7 percent in the third quarter of 2020 after the relaxation of the Covid-19 containment measures.
In the first quarter, GDP was still 3.4 percent below the level before the outbreak of the coronanavirus pandemic.
The expenditure-side breakdown showed that household spending decreased 3.5 percent and government consumption was down 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, investment advanced 3.7 percent.
Exports and imports were up 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
On a yearly basis, GDP declined 2.8 percent, the same pace of decline as seen in the fourth quarter of 2020. Economists had forecast an annual decline of 2.1 percent.
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