Weekly WIFO Economic Index

WWWI for GDP and its subcomponents

Based on the weekly indicator for GDP (WWWI), domestic economic output in February (calendar weeks 6 to 9, 2 February to 1 March) and in the first two weeks of March (calendar weeks 10 and 11, 2 to 15 March) increased by 1 percent compared with the same period last year (January +½ percent, revised)¹.

The inflation-adjusted volume of cashless transactions, serving as an indicator of household consumption expenditure, suggests a year-on-year increase in February in demand for goods (retail sales) and services, with the growth in the latter likely to have been more pronounced. Private consumption rose by 1¾ percent year-on-year in February and is expected to have increased by 2¼ percent in the first two weeks of March (January +2½ percent).

Gross fixed capital formation is driven by economic output (industrial production) and by sentiment in manufacturing according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest (business cycle survey). In February and the first two weeks of March, investment is expected to have risen by 1 percent year-on-year in each case (January 0 percent).

Based on developments in industrial production and tourism, as well as major demand components and the resulting effects on foreign trade, net exports in the broad sense made a negative contribution to GDP growth of –2¾ and –3½ percentage points in February and the first half of March respectively (January –2¼ percentage points).

Truck mileage on Austria's motorways and air freight volumes at Vienna International Airport increased in February compared with the previous year, whereas rail freight transport and passenger numbers at Vienna International Airport fell. According to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, the majority of companies in the transport sector (NACE 2008, section H) continue to view the current situation negatively. Based on these indicators, a 1 percent year-on-year decline in value added is estimated for the transport sector in both January and February (first half of March –½ percent).

The (revised) industrial production index rose significantly in December 2025 compared with the previous year, but in January 2026 it was below the previous year's level. Employment in the goods-producing sector (NACE 2008, sections A to E) continued to fall due to the recession (February –1 percent compared to the previous year). The number of jobseekers in this sector increased again following a brief respite. According to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, sentiment among firms in the manufacturing sector has improved steadily since the start of 2025; on balance, however, assessments remain in negative territory. Expectations for the coming months have recently clouded over somewhat again. WIFO expects economic output in the goods-producing sector to have been 2 percent higher in February and 1¾ percent higher in the first half of March than in the previous year (January 0 percent).

Employment in the construction sector continued to fall, and the number of persons registered as unemployed also rose again in January and February compared with the previous year, following a decline in December 2025. Sentiment among construction companies remains cautious – both current assessments and expectations are still below the long-term average. Value added in construction (NACE 2008, section F) is estimated to have been 4 percent lower year-on-year in February and 3¼ percent lower in the first two weeks of March compared with the same period last year (January –5 percent).

Based on cashless transactions in restaurants and hotels and sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, value added in tourism (accommodation and food services, NACE 2008, section I) in February remained at the previous year's level and was 3 percent higher in the first half of March (January –¼ percent). In trade (NACE 2008, section G), value added is expected to have grown by 1 percent in February and by ¾ percent in the first two weeks of March compared with the previous year (January +1½ percent).

The current employment situation in the remaining market-related services (NACE 2008, sections J to N) and the sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest point to continued moderately positive development in this sector. For the remaining market-related services, value added growth of ¾ percent year-on-year is estimated for February and the first half of March (January +¼ percent). In other personal services (NACE 2008, sections R to T), based on employment trends and business expectations from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, value added is likely to have increased by 3½ percent year-on-year in February (first half of March +3¾ percent, January +2 percent).

¹  The inclusion of newly published and revised monthly and quarterly data, which must be taken into account when estimating the WWWI, led to a revision of the WWWI for GDP. Notable supply-side WWWI revisions occurred particularly in the areas of goods production (NACE 2008, sections A to E), trade (section G) and transport (section H).

The WIFO Weekly Economic Index (WWWI) is a measure of the real economic activity of the Austrian economy on a weekly and monthly frequency. It is based on weekly, monthly and quarterly time series to estimate weekly and monthly indicators for real GDP and 18 GDP sub-aggregates (use side 8, production side 10) of the Quarterly National Accounts.

With the release for June 2022, the econometric models for the historical decompositions and for nowcasting have been converted to seasonally unadjusted time series. In addition, year-on-year growth rates are now used to estimate the models.

The WWWI estimates are (currently) updated monthly and published on the WIFO website.