Brexit: British investment in NL quadrupled since 2016

Since the British population decided that the United Kingdom should leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, Dutch investments in the UK decreased steadily and existing investments were even withdrawn. British investments in the Netherlands, on the other hand, more than quadrupled since the Brexit decision was made, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday.

This involves investments made by companies that choose to set up or take over a new subsidiary in another country, so-called multinationals. The flow of British investments that enter the Netherlands increased significantly since the Brexit referendum in 2016 - from 14 billion euros in 2016 to 80 billion euros last year. That is a record amount for British investments in the Netherlands in the past eight years, as well as the most money invested in the Netherlands by a country last year.

Investments from the Netherlands in the United Kingdom, on the other hand, decreased. In 2016 the Netherlands still invested 50 billion euros in the United Kingdom. In 2017 that amount more than halved. Last year there was even a divestment of 11 billion euros - companies recalling their existing investments.

In 2016 a total of 1,310 subsidiaries of British multinationals were active in the Netherlands, accounting for a total of 114 thousand jobs. This means that the British were the fourth largest foreign employer in the Netherlands, after the United States, Germany and France. In that same year, 1,287 subsidiaries of Dutch multinationals were active in the UK, employing 182 thousand people. This made the UK the fourth most important destination for Dutch multinationals, after Germany, the United States and France.