Lockdown extension painful but necessary, Dutch central bank said

The extension of the coronavirus hard lockdown is a painful sacrifice that needs to be made to prevent an even worse blow to the Dutch economy, Olaf Sleijpen, a member of the board of directors at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), said to news wire ANP.

Sleijpen is convinced that the damages to the economy would be more detrimental should the country reopen too early. “The economic crisis has its roots in the pandemic. The only way to get out of this crisis is to end the pandemic”, he said.

According to Sleijpen, the risk runs high that if the country would reopen now, infection rates would quickly rise, leading to a further lockdown later on. “From one lockdown to another in a stop- and go-manner does not work”, emphasized Sleijpen.

He thinks the Netherlands is handling the coronavirus crisis well by combating the spread of the virus on the one hand, and supporting businesses with relief packages on the other.