European Union forecasts: Economic growth continues to weaken – news.ORF.at

The spring economic forecasts published today by the EU Commission in Brussels continue to forecast weak growth prospects for the EU, the Eurozone and Austria: the EU economy is expected to grow by one percent this year and by 1.6 percent in 2025.

For the euro zone, the Commission expects 0.8 and 1.4 percent, respectively. Austria is expected to see a slight increase of 0.3 percent in 2024, before domestic economic output rises by 1.6 percent in 2025.

In its winter forecasts published in February, the Commission expected an increase of 0.9 percent for 2024 and 1.7 percent for 2025 for the European Union. It was expected between 0.8 and 1.5 percent for the euro area. For Austria, the forecast at the time was for economic growth of 0.6 percent for this year and 1.4 percent for next year.

Inflation remains high

Annual inflation is expected to fall faster than expected in February: in countries using the single euro currency, it is expected to fall further to 2.5 percent in 2024 and to 2.1 percent in 2025, while Inflation in the European Union from 2.7 percent this year to 2.2 percent next year. The Austrian figure remains above average at 3.6 percent this year and 2.8 percent in 2025.

Unemployment remains quite stable across the board: it is expected to be 6.1 percent in the EU this year and 6.0 percent next year, and 6.6 and 6.5 percent in the euro area. Austria is below average by 5.3 and 5.1 percent (according to Eurostat's definition).