Weekly WIFO Economic Index

WWWI for GDP and its subcomponents

Based on the weekly indicator for GDP (WWWI), domestic economic output rose by ¼ percent in April (calendar weeks 14 to 18, 30 March to 3 May 2026) and by ½ percent in the first two weeks of May (calendar weeks 19 and 20, 4 to 17 May 2026) compared with the same period last year (March +1¼ percent, revised)¹.

The inflation-adjusted volume of cashless transactions, serving as an indicator of household consumption expenditure, points to a slight year-on-year increase in demand for goods (retail sales) in April and a decline in demand for services. Private consumption fell by ½ percent year-on-year in April and is estimated to have risen by 2 percent in the first two weeks of May (March +1¼ 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 April, investment is expected to have stagnated at the previous year's level and fallen by 1¼ percent in the first half of May (March +1¾ 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 are estimated to have made a negative contribution to GDP growth of 1½ percentage points in April and ¾ percentage point in the first half of May.

Truck mileage on Austria's motorways increased in April compared with the previous year, whereas rail freight transport and passenger and air cargo volumes at Vienna Airport fell. Air traffic has suffered a significant setback as a result of the war in Iran (route cancellations and higher kerosene prices). In April, the WIFO-Konjunkturtest showed a significant deterioration in business sentiment in the transport sector, which was already predominantly negative. For transport (NACE 2008, section H), based on these indicators, value added is estimated to have stagnated in April compared with the previous year and to have declined by 1¾ percent in the first half of May (March +1 percent).

According to preliminary estimates, the industrial production index (unadjusted) rose by 6 percent year-on-year in March. Employment in the goods-producing sector (NACE 2008, sections A to E) continued to fall (April –0.7 percent year-on-year). Following a brief easing at the turn of the year 2025-26, the number of jobseekers in this sector rose slightly again by April. According to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, sentiment among manufacturing companies had tended to improve until the start of 2026 but deteriorated significantly in April. WIFO estimates that economic output in the goods-producing sector decreased by 1 percent in April and by 1¾ percent in early May compared to the previous year.

The production index for construction was about 11 percent lower than in the previous year in January, due to weather conditions, and almost 5 percent lower in February (revised), with preliminary estimates suggesting a further decline of ½ percent in March The decline in employment in the construction sector has recently slowed somewhat, and the number of persons registered as unemployed fell in March and April compared with the previous year, following an increase in January and February. Sentiment among construction firms remains sceptical. The recent improvement in the composite indicators of current conditions and expectations is largely attributable to higher price assessments. Value added in construction (NACE 2008, section F) is estimated to have declined by 2¾ percent in April and by 4¼ percent in the first two weeks of May compared to the same period of the previous year (March –1½ 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) is estimated to have increased by ¾ percent year-on-year in April and even by 6½ percent in the first half of May (March –3½ percent). The latter is due to Ascension Day falling earlier this year (2026: calendar week 20; 2025: calendar week 22) and the associated long weekend. In trade (NACE 2008, section G), value added is expected to have increased by ½ percent year-on-year in both April and early May (March +1¾ 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 a continued generally positive trend in this sector. For the remaining market-related services, a year-on-year increase in value added of ¾ percent is expected in April and the first half of May (March +1 percent). In other personal services (NACE 2008, sections R to T), value added is estimated to have grown by 1½ percent in April and by 2½ percent in the first two weeks of May (March +2 percent), based on employment trends and business expectations according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest.

¹  The inclusion of newly published and revised monthly 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), transport (section H), accommodation and food service activities (section I), and trade (section G).

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.