IHS Director Klaus Neusser warns against pursuing social policy with measures to combat inflation. Inflation is currently very high and individual groups are severely affected, but there is still real growth in consumption and real income, the economic researcher emphasized today in the ORF “Press Hour”. The inflation forecast for this year will probably have to be corrected upwards, “but only by a tenth”, Neusser expects.
Neusser said that economic researchers were surprised by both the level of inflation and the persistence of inflation. In the last spring forecast, inflation was expected to average 7.5 percent this year. “Now with the last value from April it is questionable whether we can keep this forecast.”
However, the forecast will only have to be raised slightly, in any case it will remain below eight percent. The inflation rate at the end will probably fall to six percent. The prediction is difficult, “the uncertainty is enormous”.
As far as food prices are concerned, the level in Austria is high compared to Germany, but the price increase is below the EU average and is also lower than in Germany. Inflation in Austria is mainly driven by the energy sector and the leisure and gastronomy sector. “These are the two areas where we are well above the EU average.”
