Austria’s GDP falls for 5th consecutive quarter

VIENNA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Statistics Austria said on Wednesday that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted for the fifth consecutive quarter in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, indicating that Austria remains in a recession.
The central European country’s GDP shrank by 0.6 percent in real terms in Q2 compared to the same quarter last year, extending the economic downturn that began in Q2 2023.
A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Statistics Austria said in a statement that while the decline in GDP for Q2 was “less pronounced than in previous quarters,” it was still considered “significant.”
“Austria’s economy is sliding from recession towards stagnation,” said Tobias Thomas, director-general of Statistics Austria.
Thomas attributed the Q2 economic decline primarily to the manufacturing and trade sectors, which experienced year-on-year contractions of 3.9 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Austria’s foreign trade experienced a “marked decline” in the first five months of the year, with imports falling by 12.6 percent and exports decreasing by 5.2 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Statistics Austria.
However, the institute noted that Austria has performed better in containing inflation, which has been a persistent issue in the country for the past two years. A flash estimate indicated that the inflation rate in August dropped to 2.4 percent, just 0.4 percentage points above the European Central Bank’s medium-term target of 2 percent. ■