Economic Expectations Remain Restrained

The index of current assessments of the overall economic situation rose by 4.0 points to –8.7 points in September (excluding seasonal effects). The situation indices are improving across the sectors. In the service sectors, the index rose by 5.9 points to –8.2 points but remains in negative territory. In the construction industry, the situation index increases by 6.6 points and is clearly in positive territory at 16.4 points. In the manufacturing sector, the situation index gained 2.3 points, but at –17.4 points is still in sceptical territory.

On balance, the expectations of Austrian companies across all sectors are slightly weaker than in the previous month. The index of business expectations lost 0.6 points in September and remains in the sceptical range at –9.5 points. Only in the construction industry, the expectations index is above the zero line, which separates negative from positive expectations: after a significant gain of 4.1 points, the index now stands at 6.1 points. In the service sectors, the expectations index loses 1.4 points and is now at –9.8 points in below-average areas. The expectations index for the manufacturing sector also lost some of its momentum (–1.0 points), remaining negative at –14.0 points. Most of the companies expect a restrained normalisation in the coming months.

Details on all sectors in the current economic survey can be found here.