High Frequency Business Cycle Monitpring from August to December 2021

In this project, 13 high-frequency business cycle monitoring reports on the current economic situation in Austria were prepared for the Federal Ministry of Finance from August 2021 to January 2022. The reports present estimates of (part 1) the Weekly WIFO Economic Index for GDP and of (part 2) eight GDP sub-aggregates on the national accounts expenditure side (private and public consumption, gross fixed capital formation, goods exports and imports, travel exports and imports, and a residual item) and for ten sub-aggregates on the national accounts output side (goods-producing sector, construction, accommodation and food services, transportation, trade, other market-related services, public sector in a broad sense and other private services, taxes and subsidies on products). In addition, using roaming data and cashless point-of-sale transactions (PoS, part 3), guest overnight stays are estimated and (part 4) weekly PoS transactions by federal state are analysed for the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 containment measures – retail, food services, and accommodation. Furthermore, (part 5) a monthly assessment of key sentiment indicators for businesses and households in Austria and major economic areas is provided, as well as (part 6) an international comparison of economic developments in Austria and the EU 27 countries, based on the flash estimate or the first calculation of the quarterly national accounts.