Amsterdam - The Netherlands ranks among the top six of the world's most-open economies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics. The study analyzed the importance of international trade in the Dutch economy over the last three decades.
In 2008, international trade contributed 77 per cent to the Dutch gross domestic product (GDP), the study said, up from 43 per cent in 1969.
By contrast, the contribution of international trade to the GDP amounted to only 43 per cent for Germany, 28 per cent in Britain and France, and 14 per cent in the US.
The importance of international trade to a national economy is often used to measure a country's vulnerability to global economic trends. Open economies tend to profit relatively more from economic highs, while global recessions have a higher impact too.
Products arriving in the Rotterdam harbour with a final destination outside the Netherlands - referred to as return export - are included in both import and export statistics.
The CBS said that while the GDP increased by 27 per cent, return export volume increased by 195 per cent in the last ten years, more than three times as much as the increase of regular import and export.
Countries where international trade contributes even more to the GDP than the Netherlands, are the Czech Republic and Hungary (each 79 per cent), Vietnam (82 per cent) Belgium (87 per cent) and Malaysia (100 per cent).
