Inga Burk, Economist at ING, explains that Austrian inflation rebounded in April to 2.1% YoY, from 1.9% YoY in March, due to seasonal effects.

Key Quotes

“With the late timing of Easter, parts of the rebound stem from seasonal one-off effects. Flight tickets, which fell by 8.7% YoY in March, rebounded significantly to 28.5% YoY in April. Higher price dynamics in fuels, expenses on restaurant services and accommodation services as well as rents were also responsible for the increase. Without the price effects from fuels and flight tickets inflation would have come in at 1.6% YoY.”

“On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.2% with flight tickets being the main price driver (+35.6%) caused by the late Easter. Turning to the HICP measure of inflation, the inflation rate came in at 2.3% YoY from 2.1% YoY in March.”

“With inflation expected to be hovering around the 2% mark in the months to come, the strongest growth driver, private consumption, should weaken somewhat on the back of lower real wage growth. Overall however, and despite the government crisis, the Austrian economic upturn remains well on track.”