Economic Activity in Austria Remains Strongly Impaired

Domestic economic output contracted in the fourth quarter of 2020 and barely recovered in the first weeks of 2021. Private consumption and exports remain significantly weaker than before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sentiment in the services sector and in consumer goods production remains sceptical at the start of the year, whereas the capital goods sector is benefiting from the upturn in the global economy. Inflation fell recently and unemployment remains high.