Business confidence in the Netherlands has seen a slight fall for the first time in more than a year, standing at -5.4 at the start of Q1 2025, new data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has revealed.
Fewer businesses anticipate positive operating results for 2024, the data showed, however investment expectations for 2025 have shown a slight improvement.
The current business confidence index is a marked improvement on the low of -22.2 reported in late 2022, however despite rising since, business confidence has remained below the historical average of -3.6 for thirteen consecutive months. The last time the business confidence index was in positive territory was in October 2021, when it stood at 14.0.
Deterioration in sentiment
‘Business confidence is negative across all sectors and industries except for business services,’ CBS noted. ‘What is more, almost all sectors saw a deterioration in sentiment, and this was the most pronounced in the mining and quarrying, transportation and storage, and car trade and repair sectors.
‘Only the wholesale trade and business services saw any improvement in business confidence. Sentiment was the most negative in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector and the accommodation and food services sector.’
2024 performance
In terms of expectations about their 2024 performance, some 69% of businesses anticipate a positive result, down on the 71% recorded in early 2024. The percentage of businesses expecting a loss stood at 11%, almost unchanged compared to one year earlier.
Businesses in the construction sector are the most optimistic about their 2024 performance, with 91% expecting to report profits for the full year.
Despite the decline in business confidence, investment expectations for 2025 are slightly more positive. ‘One year ago, entrepreneurs were broadly neutral regarding investment,’ CBS noted. ‘In most sectors, entrepreneurs are positive regarding investment, on balance, and in most cases they are more positive than they were last year. Only in the retail sector and other services sector did the mood shift from positive to negative.’ Read more here.
