VIENNA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The National Bank of Austria (OeNB) has revised its 2017 GDP growth forecast upwards to 3.1 percent on the back of a boom in the domestic economy.
In its latest prognosis on Friday, the central bank said GDP growth of over three percent has not been seen since the pre-financial-crisis years of 2006 and 2007.
The new growth forecast marks an upward revision of 0.9 percent over the previous one made in June.
Its growth expectation for 2018 is an also-strong 2.8 percent, a 1.1-percentage-point upward-growth revision.
From there the OeNB anticipates a significant slowing down of growth, first to 1.9 percent in 2019, then further down to 1.6 percent by 2020.
Unemployment is expected to drop from its six-percent high in 2016, to five percent by 2020.
The OeNB said main drivers of growth have been the overcoming of a slump in exports in 2016, as well as a strong expansion in investments.
An increase in employment as well as higher incomes have also been a major contributor to higher consumption.
