Austrian economy grows 0.4 percent in first quarter

The Austrian economy has seen 0.4 percent first-quarter GDP growth in part due to increased domestic consumption, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) said Friday.

The result takes overall real GDP growth to 1.3 percent higher than that of a year earlier. It also marks a trend of continued upward growth, following fourth-quarter 2015 growth of 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent in the quarter prior to that.

WIFO said private consumption grew 0.2 percent over the previous quarter, above the average for the past two years, while strong public consumption took overall consumption to 0.3 percent growth.

An expansion in investment proved to be a positive driving force for the economy. This also follows two years of weak growth in construction investments.

The research institute said the trade sector also performed well, the expansion of imports by 0.9 percent slightly squeezing out the 0.8 percent growth in exports. It said despite a muted global economy the result shows that Austrian trade was robust at the start of the year.

This was also reflected in the industrial sector, WIFO said, with the value of goods produced increasing 0.6 percent over the previous quarter.