Austrian economic growth to slow down

Vienna, July 10 (IANS) Growth of Austria's economic output will slow down to between 0.6 and 0.8 percent in 2012 from three percent in the previous year, a report said here.

The new forecast included in the 2012 Economics Report for Austria was rather modest compared to earlier estimates which had hoped for a continuation of last year's recovery in Austria, reported Xinhua.

However, Austrian Economics Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner, who gave an ecomomic and political report Monday along with three other minister including Finance Minister Maria Fekter, noted a possible drop in investment and general exports in 2012, while warning that private consumption would also shrink.

"Exports in countries outside the EU (European Union) grew strongly in the first few months (of 2012), but in the EU they are stagnating," he said.

"We need to take steps to reduce our dependence on Europe and focus on growth markets abroad," he said.