Austria's economy advanced 0.3 percent on quarter in the three months to March of 2019, slowing from a 0.4 percent growth in the prior period and in line with market expectations, preliminary figures showed. This is the slowest expansion since Q1 2015, as government spending rose slightly less (0.4 percent vs 0.5 percent in Q4). Meanwhile, private consumption (0.4 percent vs 0.3 percent) and fixed investment (0.6 percent, the same pace as in Q4) continued to advance. At the same time, net trade contributed positively to growth, as exports and imports rose 0.4 percent each (from 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent in Q4, respectively). Year-on-year, the GDP grew 1.1 percent, much slower than 2.4 percent in the previous quarter and marking the weakest expansion since Q2 2015. GDP Growth Rate in Austria averaged 0.47 percent from 1996 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 1.10 percent in the fourth quarter of 1997 and a record low of -1.40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.
GDP Growth Rate in Austria is expected to be 0.40 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate GDP Growth Rate in Austria to stand at 0.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Austria GDP Growth Rate is projected to trend around 0.30 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.