ABN Amro expects 10% more bankruptcies this year

Economic growth in the Netherlands will slow down this year, and that will affect businesses, according to ABN Amro. The bank's economists expect the Dutch economy to grow by 1.4 percent this year, almost half the growth 2018 saw. And the number of bankruptcies, excluding sole traders, will increase by 10 percent, ABN Amro expects, NU.nl reports.

The lower economic growth is likely to slow down job growth and will result in consumers having less to spend, according to the bank. Consumer confidence already declined over the past months, and this may indicate that individuals are already more reluctant to give out money. Retailers and companies in the hospitality industry may suffer from this.

ABN Amro also sees potential problems for exporters. The Netherlands' central planning office CPB recently reported that world trade fell by 1.7 percent in February. The trade war between China and the United States, and the delayed Brexit are also still creating uncertainty.

Between the second quarter of last year and the second quarter of this year, a total of 3,126 businesses and institutions in the Netherlands went bankrupt, about the same number as in the same period a year earlier. Throughout 2018, the number of bankruptcies fell 6 percent compared to 2017.