Dutch economy to recover later than expected from COVID-19 slump -central bank

  • 3/22/2021
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AMSTERDAM, March 22 (Reuters) - Economic growth in the Netherlands is set to recover later than expected from its coronavirus-driven slump as the broad lockdown of the country continues, the Dutch central bank (DNB) said on Monday. Growth in the euro zone’s fifth largest economy is expected to rebound to 2.2% in 2021 and 4.2% in 2022, the bank said, following a historically deep 3.8% contraction due the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The central bank last December pencilled in growth of 2.9% for both 2021 and 2022, as it expected social distancing measures to be phased out over the course of this year. But the Dutch economy is currently still in recession, the DNB said, as all bars and restaurants have been closed for five months already and many shops have only limited options to receive customers. Coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have increased to their highest levels since early January in recent days and the government on Tuesday is expected to announce that the current lockdown will be extended into April. (Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by William Maclean)

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