Netherlands: Business confidence moderates in August

Sentiment in the manufacturing industry eased for the third consecutive month in August, as business confidence dropped to 5.9 from 6.3 in July due to less upbeat views on order books and future output. Despite the drop, the index remained above the crucial zero-point threshold marking optimism from pessimism. The result was also markedly above the long-term average of 0.8 over the past 20 years.

Contrasting less optimism regarding order books and future output, businesses were more upbeat about stocks of finished goods. Additionally, all sub-components of the sentiment index remained in optimistic territory and all subsectors of the manufacturing industry remained optimistic, which has been the case for over a year. Companies in the wood and construction industry stayed the most positive in July.

Netherlands Fixed Investment Forecast

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see fixed investment growing 5.2% in 2018, which is down 0.3 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2019, the panel expects fixed investment to expand 3.4%.