CBS presents declining growth figures at Erasmus University

On Thursday, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) presented the annual growth figures for the Dutch economy at Erasmus University’s Theil Building. Those figures do still show growth, but the growth rate is declining, CBS’s Chief Economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told a large group of economics students and other attendees, as well as viewers watching the presentation live on RTL Z.

During the fourth quarter of 2019, the Dutch economy grew by 0.4 per cent on the previous quarter. Some 48,000 people found employment, and the number of open vacancies rose by 3,000. The country’s economy grew by 1.7 per cent in 2019, which is a slightly higher percentage than those recorded by our main European trading partners.

Logical decision

Today marked the first time some of the main performance indicators of the Dutch economy were presented to the public from outside CBS’s own headquarters. The presentation was co-organised by the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). “It was a logical decision for us,” CBS spokesman Thomas Ruigrok said about the institute’s decision to have the presentation hosted by Erasmus University. “We wanted our figures to be accessible to everyone and to disseminate them as widely as possible, in the broadest sense of the word. Students are the policymakers and economists of the future. So naturally, this place made sense, but we obviously could have presented the figures at the universities of Tilburg or Groningen, as well.”

The presentation was a little more elaborate than it normally is. In addition to the press conference, there was a panel discussion featuring Van Mulligen; the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Eric Wiebes; EUR Professor of Public Economics, Bas Jacobs; and Sandra Phlippen, ABN Amro’s Chief Economist, who is also an assistant professor at ESE.