According to forecasts, Austria will be affected by stagnating growth and high inflation in the coming year. Economic output will increase by 0.2 to 0.3 percent, the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo) and the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) predicted on Friday. For 2022, they expect an increase of 4.7 to 4.8 percent. According to the forecasts, the combination of low economic growth and expected inflation of around 6.6 percent in the coming year will result in the first so-called stagflation in Austria since the 1970s.
Austria is the seventh largest sales market for German exports. Wifo expects Austrian demand for foreign goods and services to increase by 6 percent this year and by 0.9 percent next year. The IHS sees import growth somewhat more optimistically at 6.9 (2022) and 1.6 (2023) percent. (dpa)