Austria’s economy to grow 1.6% on average over 2019-2023: IHS

By Reuters Last updated Jul 24, 2019

A car passes a street sign reading 'Austria' in the Italian village of Brenner on the Italian-Austrian border, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler

BERLIN (Reuters) – Austria’s economy should grow 1.6% a year on average over the 2019-2023 period, helped by robust private consumption, economics think-tank IHS said on Wednesday.

IHS expects the growth rate to accelerate to 1.8% in 2021, before dropping to 1.4% in 2023 as a result of demographic shifts dragging on growth, it said.

“Private consumption remains a major driver of economic activity, while the momentum of investment and exports is expected to slow slightly due to the restrained pace of the global economy,” IHS said in a statement.

It sees private consumption at 1.5% between 2019-2023 compared to 1.0% in the previous five-year period. Inflation is expected to average 1.75% over the same period.

The unemployment rate will rise to 7.2% at the end of 2023 from its current level of 6.5%.