01.07.2019

Economic Indices Continue to Decline Slightly

WIFO-Konjunkturtest June 2019
The results of the WIFO-Konjunkturtest (business cycle survey) of June 2019 show again slight declines compared to the previous month, but still quite satisfactory economic assessments of Austrian companies. Despite the majority of declines, economic assessments in the service and construction sectors remain much more optimistic than in the manufacturing sector.

The index of current assessments for the economy as a whole in June (excluding seasonal fluctuations) remains 1.5 points below the level of the previous month, but with 11.6 points is at a rather confident level. In the construction industry, the index gains (+2.6 points) and is at a very optimistic level with a value of 33.7 points. In the service industries, the index lost 1.1 points, but still signals a good service economy with 12.6 points. In the economically significant manufacturing sector, the situation index loses ground (–3.2 points) and, at 5.5 points, is only in the range of average economic assessments.

The business expectations index also fell slightly (–1.2 points), reaching a value of 8.2 points. In the construction industry, the expectations index declined (–4.5 points), but the index value remained within a quite confident range at 9.1 points. The expectations index fell significantly in the manufacturing sector (–3.3 points), reaching 0.1 points close to the zero line, which separates confident from pessimistic expectations. In the service sectors, on the other hand, the expectations index rose slightly (+0.9 points). The index score of 13.3 points also continues to signal confident economic expectations. As a result, heterogeneous economic assessments across the three sectors continue to emerge in June.

Details on all sectors in the current economic survey can be found here.
 

 
Dr. Werner Hölzl
Industrial, Innovation and International Economics