The minus amounted to 2.1 billion euros or 0.5 percent of economic output.
Gottfried Haber, Deputy Governor of the National Bank, said yesterday at a press conference in Vienna that the main reasons for this are “travel, which is still severely impaired,” and the fact that energy imports have become more expensive.
How Austria’s foreign trade will continue to develop depends heavily on the development of the tourism industry, said Haber. “The current account balance is negative, but not so extreme that it cannot quickly turn positive again.” The volatility of key influencing factors is immense. “Everything depends on how the geopolitical and pandemic situation develops.” This applies to both tourism and energy imports.
Source: Nachrichten
