Austria’s Forecasted Growth Increase Could Boost Its ETF

September 29, 2007 at 1:10 pm by Tom Lydon

The Austrian National Bank recently raised its prediction for real gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.2 percentage points, which could influence the performance of its exchange traded fund (ETF), iShares MSCI Austria Index (EWO). The new forecast is that Austria’s GDP will grow 3.4%, and the country expects growth in Austrian exports and the economy to continue in the second half of the year, reports Fiona Flanagan for Thomson Financial News. Currently, EWO is up 2.3% year-to-date.

Austria has a well-developed market economy and high standard of living that is closely connected to other European Union (EU) economies, especially Germany’s. The Austrian economy also benefits greatly from strong commercial relations, especially in the banking and insurance sectors. Its economy features a large service sector, a sound industrial sector and a small, but highly developed agricultural sector, according to the CIA World Factbook.