"The Gallup-WIFO Opinion Check shows that the population has in part significantly overestimated the past and projected facts about the Austrian pension system", explained WIFO Director Christoph Badelt and Gallup COO Andrea Fronaschütz at a joint press conference on 20 February 2020 at the Vienna Press Club Concordia.

The USA–China trade conflict and the auto sector crisis are weighing on the global industry. New strict EU emissions regulations will continue to create a difficult environment in the future. However, the services sector is proving to be a strong pillar of the economy. In Austria, tourism in particular continues to expand.

On 31 January 2020, Mayor Michael Ludwig presented Christoph Badelt, former rector of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and now Director of WIFO, with the Grand Silver Medal of Honour for Services to Vienna.

According to the latest WIFO Flash Estimate, the Austrian economy grew by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the previous quarter (after 0.2 percent in the third quarter). Thus, growth continued at a modest pace. The prolonged decline in industrial activity dampened overall economic momentum, while services stabilised GDP growth. For the year 2019, overall economic growth amounts to 1.6 percent.

How does the science sector in Hamburg compare with other metropolitan regions? On 20 January 2020, a comparative analysis, conducted by the Berlin university consulting firm CHE-Consult in cooperation with WIFO on behalf of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg, was presented.

New media and information technologies have fundamentally changed reading habits and media consumption, also in the field of specialist interest publications. For this reason, the WIFO-Monatsberichte (monthly reports) have undergone a significant overhaul in terms of content and graphics.