Dutch economy contracts 1.7% in first quarter as consumers stop spending
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch economy contracted by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak began to bite, led by the largest drop in consumer spending on record, Statistics Netherlands said on Friday.Preliminary figures showed gross domestic product falling sharply from 1.6% growth in the last quarter of 2019 and dipping 0.5% year-on-year, the CBS said.The drop was largely recorded in the second half of March, when the Dutch government imposed lockdown measures to curb..