Netherlands: Business confidence remains in negative territory in July
Business confidence rose to minus 8.7 in July from June’s minus 15.1. As such, the index remained entrenched below both the 0-threshold, separating pessimism from optimism among businesses, and the long-term average of 0.5 over the last 20 years.
The uptick in July reflected improved views on business expectations, which turned positive for the first time since the Covid-19 crisis began. Moreover, attitudes towards order books turned less negative, but the outlook on stocks of finished goods remain pessimistic.