Austrian National Bank Cuts Q1 Economic Forecast

VIENNA, Mar. 14 -- Austria's national bank on Wednesday trimmed the country's economic outlook for the first three months of 2013.

The Austrian economy is only managing a slow recovery with national economic output in the first quarter expected to grow by only 0.1 percent, the bank said.

Year on year, Austria's GDP is expected to grow by 0.2 percent.

For the second quarter, the bank estimated that GDP could grow by 0.3 percent on a quarterly basis, and 0.4 percent on a yearly basis.

Austrian exports in January and February did manage to make up for losses in November and December 2012, the national bank's indicators showed, but they did not point towards a continued upturn.

Despite positive economic signs in the USA, the overall European economy had continued to shrink since the end of 2011, and downward risks, such as the unclear outcome of the recent Italian elections which could prove to be a brake on economic growth in the region, persisted, it said.