No Great Expansion of Investments Expected by Manufacturers in 2013. Results of the WIFO Spring 2013 Investment Survey

According to the results of WIFO's Spring 2013 Investment Survey, investment in manufacturing expressed in current prices is expected to increase by 6.5 percent in 2013. However, the increase is highly uneven across industry groups. The intermediate goods industry plans to cut its investments by 7 percent while those of the capital goods industry will hardly change (+2 percent). In contrast, the consumer goods industry plans to raise its investments by 38 percent. However, this is solely due to the very strong increase in the food and beverage industry which plans to double investment. In 2012, manufacturing firms have raised investment in research and development (+5 percent). Construction firms cut back on their investments in 2012, despite the stable performance of the industry, but in 2013 investment activity is expected to expand again: this is due to the planned increase in building investments; investment in machinery and equipment by construction firms is due to decline.