Weekly WIFO Economic Index

WWWI for GDP and its subcomponents

Based on the weekly indicator for GDP (WWWI), Austrian economic output was ½ percent higher in July (calendar weeks 27 to 31, 29 June to 2 August 2026) and 1 percent higher in the first two weeks of August (calendar weeks 32 and 33, 3 to 16 August 2026) than in the corresponding period of the previous year (June +1½ percent, revised)¹.

The inflation-adjusted volume of cashless transactions as an indicator of private household consumption expenditure points to a year-on-year increase in July in demand for services as well as in demand for goods (retail sales), with the latter likely to have increased somewhat more strongly. Private consumption expanded by 1 percent year-on-year in July and by 1¼ percent in the first two weeks of August (June +1½ percent).

The development of gross fixed capital formation is determined by economic output (industrial production) and sentiment in manufacturing according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest (business cycle survey). Investment is estimated to have increased by 2 percent year-on-year in July and by 3½ percent in the first half of August (June +4 percent).

Based on the development of industrial production and tourism, as well as the major demand components and the resulting effects on foreign trade, net exports in the broad sense resulted in a negative growth contribution to GDP of 1¼ percentage points in July (June –¼ percentage point).

Truck mileage on Austria's motorways continued to increase in July compared with the previous year. Rail freight transport has remained below the previous year's level for three quarters of a year now, and passenger and air cargo volumes at Vienna Airport are suffering from the effects of the Iran war. According to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, sentiment among companies in the transport sector has recovered slightly since the slump at the start of the war but remains subdued. Based on these indicators, value added in transport (NACE 2008, section H) is estimated to have declined by 1¼ percent year-on-year in July and to have increased slightly by ¼ percent in the first half of August (June 0 percent).

The industrial production index fell by 5.7 percent year-on-year in May, with two working days fewer than in the previous year (unadjusted, revised; preliminary estimate –4.9 percent). In June, according to the preliminary estimate, it rose by 4.5 percent, with two working days more than in the previous year. Dependent employment in the goods-producing sector (NACE 2008, sections A to E) continued to shrink (June and July each –0.8 percent year-on-year). After a brief easing around the turn of 2025-26, the number of jobseekers in this sector increased again at an accelerating pace (July +3.0 percent, June +1.6 percent). According to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, sentiment among manufacturers had tended to improve up to the beginning of 2026 but deteriorated markedly with the onset of the Iran war. In the following months, expectations in particular remained pessimistic. According to the WWWI estimate, economic output in the goods-producing sector stagnated at the previous year's level in July and was 1 percent higher year-on-year at the beginning of August (June +3¼ percent).

The construction production index was 1.7 percent below the previous year's level in May, with two working days fewer than in the previous year. In June, it rose by 11.1 percent, with two working days more (preliminary estimate). Employment in construction has been declining somewhat more strongly again since May. However, the number of persons registered as unemployed has been falling for several months. Sentiment among construction companies has returned to a positive balance in recent months. The decline in value added in construction (NACE 2008, section F) amounted to ¼ percent year-on-year in June. In July and in the first two weeks of August, value added was 1¾ percent and 1½ percent respectively below the previous year's level.

Based on cashless transactions in restaurants and hotels and sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, value added in tourism (accommodation and food service activities, NACE 2008, section I) is estimated to have fallen by ¼ percent year-on-year in July and to have risen by 2¾ percent in the first half of August (June –1¾ percent). In trade (NACE 2008, section G), based on retail sales, value added is expected to have increased by 2¼ percent year-on-year in July and by 1 percent at the beginning of August (June +3½ percent).

The current employment situation in the remaining market-related services and sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest point to a continued, overall positive development in this sector. For the remaining market-related services (NACE 2008, sections J to N), value added is expected to have increased by 1¼ percent year-on-year in July and by 1½ percent in the first half of August (June +1½ percent). In other personal services (NACE 2008, sections R to T), value added is estimated to have grown by 1½ percent in July and by 1 percent in the first two weeks of August, based on employment developments and business expectations according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest (June +2 percent).

¹ The inclusion of newly published and revised monthly data, which must be reconciled when estimating the WWWI, led to a revision of the WWWI for GDP. Notable production-side WWWI revisions occurred in the areas of goods production (NACE 2008, sections A to E), trade (section G), accommodation and food service activities (section I) and remaining market-related services (sections J to N).

The Weekly WIFO 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.