Austria: Staff Report for the 2014 Article IV Consultation
IMF Staff Country Reports, September 15, 2014
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- Austria: Staff Report for the 2014 Article IV Consultation
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Bibliographic details
- Published: September 15, 2014
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498333726.002
Context
- Austria did not experience a severe boom-bust cycle and came through the crisis relatively well.
- The main impact of the crisis was on the banking sector and public debt.
- With cyclical slack low and the recovery taking hold, this is the time to resolve crisis legacies and address long-standing structural issues.
Outlook and risks
- The recovery is taking hold, driven by a pick-up in exports.
- The most acute risks are mainly geopolitical and could in particular lead to financial spillovers.
Financial sector policies (findings and recommendations)
- Bank restructuring should now be rapidly completed and bad asset disposal accelerated.
- Large internationally active banks should stand ready for further capital increases.
- The EU banking union framework needs to be swiftly transposed at the national level.
Public expenditure reforms (findings and recommendations)
- More decisive expenditure reforms in key areas such as pensions, health care, subsidies, and fiscal federalism would generate savings.
- Savings could be used for both an accelerated debt reduction and lower labor taxation.
Boosting potential output growth (findings and recommendations)
- Enhancing IT adaptation.
- Improving the performance of the education system.
- Facilitating access to financing for innovative start-ups.
- Reducing administrative barriers for new businesses.
- These measures would raise potential growth and labor productivity.
Source: Austria: Staff Report for the 2014 Article IV Consultation (September 15, 2014).