Austria's trade deficit rose to EUR 286.5 million in February 2019 from EUR 197 million in the same period a year ago. Imports surged 9.6 percent to EUR 13.15 billion, driven by purchases from non-EU countries (22.1 percent) and the EU (4.8 percent). At the same time, exports advanced at a slower 9 percent to EUR 12.87 billion, led by sales to the EU (10.4 percent) and to non-EU countries (5.5 percent). Considering the first two months of 2019, the trade deficit widened to EUR 679 million from EUR 400 million in the same period of 2018, as imports jumped 8.3 percent and exports went up 7.2 percent. Balance of Trade in Austria averaged -289.45 EUR Million from 1953 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 581 EUR Million in November of 2014 and a record low of -1256 EUR Million in April of 1991.
Balance of Trade in Austria is expected to be -800.00 EUR Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in Austria to stand at -600.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Austria Balance of Trade is projected to trend around -100.00 EUR Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.