Brussels revises Dutch economy recovery forecast, 3.3% growth expected

The European Commission has forecasted economic growth of 3.3% for the Netherlands during the next two years, De Telegraaf reported. The newest prediction is considerably higher than the previous estimate released in February, suggesting that the Netherlands is recovering from the coronavirus crisis faster than expected.

The EU member states’ economic growth forecasts for this year and next have been significantly revised. The commission now anticipates that the economies of the 27 countries will return to their pre-pandemic level by the last quarter of 2021.

The Netherlands and some other countries could reach that milestone during the summer. These are countries the Commission considered to be hit less severely by the economic crisis which accompanied the coronavirus pandemic.

“The European economy is making a strong comeback and all the right pieces are falling into place,” said EU Commission Vice President, Valdis Dombrovskis.

The EU economy will grow at a rate of 4.8 percent on average this year, up 0.6 percentage points from the Commission's prediction earlier this year. In 2022, that is estimated to be 4.5 percent. It was not considered abnormal for growth in a country with a robust economy, such as the Netherlands, to be below the average this year.

At the same time, the inflation rate for this year has also been revised and is now predicted to be higher. The EU Commission said that the inflation is expected to be 2.2 percent, which is 0.3 percentage higher than originally estimated for the entire EU. The Netherlands compares favorably to that, with an estimated 1.8 percent inflation rate.

The EU Commission has also warned that the optimistic forecast could be threatened by the emergence or further spread of new variants of the coronavirus.