Description (en)
After the severe slump in economic development in 2009, the Austrian economy picked up in
2010 (+2.1%) and expanded by 2.7% in 2011. In 2012, in the wake of the economic recession
in the Euro-zone, real GDP growth slowed down to an annual average of 0.9% and further in
2013 to 0.3%. This was the worst economic development since the economic crisis of 2009,
when economic growth declined by 3.8%. However, economic growth remained clearly
above the average of the Euro-zone (EU18: -0.6% in 2012 and -0.4% in 2013) and was about as
high as in Germany (+0.7% in 2012 and +0.4% in 2013) – mainly due to continued investment in
public infrastructure and housing. In 2014 the economy recovers slowly and economic growth
is expected not to surpass 0.8%. It is above all the uncertainty about the political and
economic developments in Eastern Europe that affect investment decisions and export
growth.
In 2013, economic growth in Austria was negatively affected by the weak economic
performance of some Southern and Eastern European countries which are amongst Austria’s
main trading partners (Italy and Hungary). Accordingly, export dynamics were restrained, real
export growth amounting to 2.7% only (goods +2.6%, services +3.1%). As consumption and
investment were subdued, import growth was even lower, amounting to 0.6% (goods +0.2%,
services +2.3%).