The outbreak of the corona virus will cost the Netherlands economic growth, says Hans de Boer, chairman of the employers’ union VNO-NCW. In the talk show WNL on Sunday De Boer combined the economic burden of corona with that of brexit and nitrogen problems. That sum leads to “a poor economic year, but we are not going to die”.
Instead of the expected 1 percent growth, De Boer thinks that the Netherlands will be a few tenths of percentage points lower, between 0.5 and 1 percent.
The business community is getting crisis on crisis, says De Boer, with the smaller companies being hit hard. As an example, he mentioned the smaller companies that have to live on cruise tourism to Amsterdam. Because the tourists stay away, this industry is in the hair.
He also pointed out that people are worried by the fall in prices on the stock exchanges and are less likely to spend money. The negative impact of this on business is already being felt, says De Boer.
More autonomy
The employers’ chair expects Europe to work towards greater economic autonomy in the near future, so that effects such as those from the corona outbreak on the European economy are watered down.
“The world economy is enormously intertwined, we are super dependent on China, for example for medicines,” says de Boer. This entanglement will remain, but Europe will want to reduce that dependence in order to strengthen its own position.
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