Summary

After seemingly stalling from four years, the Austrian economy is becoming resurgent. Since 2012, when the second wave of the economic downturn invaded the Eurozone, the economies of Slovakia’s western neighbors have only grown by a few tenths of a percent per year. Austria, although avoiding economic recession, has not advanced significantly. That is starting to change. This year, the dynamics of economic growth should reach around one and a half percent; in the next year, it should get even higher. The level of investment made in the country is still somewhat lagging behind the long-term average, despite the good conditions for financing, such as low interest rates and large amounts of cash in companies. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in order to further increase the confidence in the economy, it will still be important to complete the restructuring of the defaulted loans of banks, which might also involve major creditors. To do it, no other public funds would probably be needed, as presumed by the OECD and Brussels. Austria is among the more responsible countries in terms of public funds, but with a high public debt. Last year, public debt reached more than 86 percent of GDP, while also being affected by the pouring of public funds into damaged banks. It should, however, start improving in the near future.

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