Investment up by over 2 percent in March

These are the most recent figures on this topic. View the previous figures here.
© ANP / Peter Hilz
In March 2025, the volume of investment in tangible fixed assets was up by 2.2 percent year on year, as reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This was mainly due to more investment in machinery (including defence equipment) and buildings. However, investment in passenger cars and other road transport (lorries, trailers, vans, etc.) was lower than the previous year.

The decrease in investment in road transport is linked to the introduction of tax changes that came into effect on 1 January 2025 and changes to rules on environmental zones in a number of cities in the Netherlands.

These figures on investment have not been adjusted for calendar effects. March 2025 had the same number of working days as March 2024. According to the CBS Investment Radar for May, conditions for investment in the Netherlands were more unfavourable than they were in March.

YearMonthchange (year-on-year % change)
2021April10.1
2021May10.7
2021June8.9
2021July3.2
2021August-1.1
2021September-0.1
2021October-2.4
2021November1.7
2021December3.1
2022January-5.6
2022February5.6
2022March-2.9
2022April1.2
2022May9.8
2022June4.7
2022July1.8
2022August7.6
2022September7.3
2022October6.9
2022November5.8
2022December1.4
2023January9.8
2023February4.5
2023March3.3
2023April-2.3
2023May7.1
2023June4.6
2023July-0.7
2023August5.9
2023September-4.8
2023October-0.9
2023November-5
2023December-7.9
2024January-4.5
2024February-2.1
2024March-9.2
2024April7.3
2024May-6.4
2024June-10.7
2024July0.1
2024August-2.9
2024September-0.5
2024October6.9
2024November2.4
2024December11.2
2025January2
2025February-0.4
2025March2.2

Investment climate more unfavourable in May

Every month, CBS publishes an update on the investment climate in the CBS Investment Radar. Factors that are relevant to the investment climate include the situation in sales markets and the financial markets. Although the radar indicators correlate fairly well with fixed investment, improved conditions do not necessarily result in greater growth or a smaller contraction in investment.

According to the CBS Investment Radar for May, the investment climate in the Netherlands was more unfavourable than it was in March. This was mainly because the year-on-year increase in share prices turned into a decline, and consumer confidence was lower.

The figures presented in this news release are provisional and subject to revision.