Austria is not doing particularly well according to the European Commission’s current winter forecasts. Compared to the other Eurozone countries (20 countries), they rank only third after last. Overall, economic growth in Europe is weakening more than recently expected.
Economic growth of 0.6 percent is expected for Austria this year. In a direct comparison of countries, only Germany (0.3 percent) and the Netherlands (0.4 percent) are lagging behind this year.
The following year doesn’t look much better: although the Commission expects Austria to grow by 1.4 percent in 2025, that is still the fourth worst outlook in the eurozone.
The EU lowered the forecast again
For the EU, an increase of 0.9 percent in 2024 and 1.7 percent in 2025 is expected. The economic output of the eurozone is expected to increase by 0.8 and 1.5 percent respectively. The Commission has therefore once again lowered growth expectations in the winter economic forecast published on Thursday.
In its autumn forecast, the Brussels government already assumed that the economy would grow more slowly this year than previously expected. However, in November their forecast for 2024 was still 1.3 percent for the EU and 1.2 percent for the eurozone. At the time, the domestic economy was forecast to grow by one percent.
Inflation also remains above the EU average
Annual inflation is expected to fall faster than recently forecast: in countries with the single euro it is expected to fall further to 2.7 percent in 2024 and 2.2 percent in 2025, while inflation in the EU is expected to decline this year expected to be 3.0 percent. year to 2.5 percent next year. The Austrian figure is still above average at 4.0 percent this year and 3.0 percent in 2025.
Falling inflation raises hope
As the EU narrowly avoided a technical recession in the second half of 2023, the European Commission continues to view the prospects for the EU economy in the first quarter of 2024 as weak. However, it expects economic activity to gradually accelerate this year. Falling inflation and a resilient labor market should support a recovery in consumption. Slowly easing credit conditions should stimulate investment.
Trade with third countries is also expected to normalize after weak performance last year. However, the Commission sees risks given the ongoing geopolitical tensions and the risk of a further expansion of the conflict in the Middle East.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
