Abrupt Interruption of Economic Recovery in First Half of 2014. Business Cycle Report of September 2014

World trade growth did not accelerate further as expected in the first half of 2014, but slackened again. The reason for this development lies in the weak import demand of many emerging market economies, a consequence of the capital flight following the announced trend reversal of US monetary policy. Export-oriented economies in Europe such as Austria were more strongly affected than the USA, where the upswing continued thanks to robust domestic demand. Moreover, Austrian firms have again curtailed their gross investment this year. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stagnated once again at 8.5 percent in August.