Austria's GDP growth seen above 3 pct in 2007, budget deficit near zero by 2009

Jul 9, 2007 - The Austrian government said it expects the country's real gross domestic product to grow by more than 3 pct in 2007 on strong exports, and stated its goal of achieving a 'nearly balanced budget' by 2009.

In an economic report presented this morning, Austria's coalition government said that strong export-related growth in the production sector was playing a central role in keeping the country's economy growing at a rate similar to last year's real GDP growth of 3.1 pct, the Austrian press agency APA reports.

The government maintains its goal of sinking the country's budget deficit to 0.9 pct of GDP in 2007 and to 0.7 pct of GDP in 2008.

According to APA, the government's budget deficit forecasts remain more cautious than those from the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo), which sees the 2007 budget deficit at 0.7 pct and that for 2008 at 0.6 pct.

The government's newest GDP forecast for 2007 also remains slightly more conservative than those from Wifo and Vienna's Institute for Higher Education (IHS), which currently peg GDP growing by 3.2 pct and 3.1 pct, respectively.