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A combo photo shows closed shops in the Dutch town of Leiden, near The Hague, on February 17, 2009. The Dutch economy is set to shrink by 3.5 percent in 2009, the government's budget policy advice body said today as the prime minister spoke of a 'heavy recession' in the country. Last week, Dutch statistics agency CBS said the economy had entered recession in the fourth quarter of 2008, posting its biggest decline since the beginning of the 1980s.'The 'effects of the financial crisis are much worse than expected,' CPB head Coen Teulings told reporters.
