Stats office: All signs point to growing Dutch economy

A wide range of economic indicators suggest that the Dutch economy is doing better than long-term forecasting predicted, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The data also shows that the economic situation in September 2015 outperformed the economy in August. Entrepreneurial confidence in the industry showed a fractional increase in September while consumer confidence remained relatively unchanged for the past four months, proving that both producer and consumer confidence is above the long term average. Investments grew significantly in July, showing tangible fixed asset investment to be ten percent higher than in July 2014. Unemployment figures have shown a decrease of 13,000, leaving unemployment figures in August standing on 6.8 percent of the workforce. The volume of exports saw a 5.4 percent jump when compared to July 2014. This increase is larger than any of the past five months. Consumer spending also increased by 1.3 percent with the majority of spending portioned to durable goods. Dutch manufacturing output is up 0.6 percent from July last year, showing the fifth straight positive year-on-year result. This despite the loss of production in the tobacco industry dragging down the numbers. CBS has also reported that when compared to the second quarter of 2014, the Dutch economy has shown an increase of 1.8 percent. This was made more interesting by the reduction in natural gas extraction in Groningen, a decision made because of increased earthquakes there.