Economy Deteriorating at Accelerating Pace. Business Cycle Report of March 2009

The global economic downturn continued at the end of 2008. GDP contracted also in Austria in the fourth quarter of 2008, albeit less so than in the USA and in the largest economies in the EU. Notably Austria's export-driven industry suffers from the decline in global demand. The results of WIFO's latest business cycle survey signal a further slowdown in industrial activity during the first quarter of 2009. In February, the labour market reacted with a marked rise in unemployment and a fall in employment.