External conditions for Austria's economic development over the next twelve months have further deteriorated during last autumn. Following the turmoil in currency markets forecasts for Western European GDP growth in 1993 have been revised downwards into a 1 to 1½ percent range. The business climate has weakened particularly in West Germany where demand and output are projected to barely rise on annual average. Austrias's economy, highly dependent from the German market and facing the same challenge of a rising effective exchange rate is set to grow at a slower pace than hitherto expected. The current projection is for a rise in real GDP of 1¼ percent, corresponding to the European average.