Austria: GDP growth remains robust in the final quarter of 2017
January 31, 2018
The Austrian economy continued to grow robustly towards the end of the year, with GDP growth coming in at 0.8% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, broadly unchanged from the prior quarter’s revised 0.9% growth rate (previously reported: +0.8% quarter-on-quarter). In annual terms, economic growth moderated slightly but remained resilient; the economy grew 2.8% year-on-year in the final quarter of 2017, down from the previous quarter’s revised 3.1% annual growth (previously reported: +2.6% year-on-year).
In the October–December period, economic growth was buttressed by robust private and government consumption, which grew 0.4% and 0.6% over the previous quarter, respectively. In the third quarter, private consumption growth came in at 0.4% qoq and government consumption growth came in at 0.5% qoq. Growth in fixed investment, however, slowed from a revised 1.3% qoq to 1.0% qoq in Q4.
In addition, a buoyant external sector supported the economy in the fourth quarter, as the quarter-on-quarter pace of growth of exports increased from 1.3% in Q3 to 1.8% in Q4. Import growth also picked up pace, from 1.2% qoq in Q3 to 1.7% qoq in Q4. However, as exports slightly outpaced imports, the external sector made a positive contribution to economic growth, suggesting that Austria is benefitting from a pick-up in EU economies.
Author: Jan Lammersen, Economist