The Treasurer’s Guide to Trade Finance

Austria

Economic and trade overview

Key figures

Economy 2011 Trade 2011 (USD billion)

GDP (USD) 418 bn Goods Exports 170

GDP per capita (USD) 49,701 Imports 175

GDP volume growth (year-on-year) + 2.7% Net – 6

Population 8.41m Services Exports 59

Interest rate (for corporations funding stocks

up to one year) 2.95%

Imports 45

Net + 14

Exchange rate EUR / USD (year average) 0.7194

Source: IFS, IMF, January 2013

BoP (goods, services & income) as % of GDP + 1.2%

International/Regional memberships

European Union (EU): since 1 January 1995.

Austria is also a member of the European

Economic Area (EEA).

International Monetary Fund (IMF):

since 27 August 1948.

World Trade Organization (WTO):

since 1 January 1995.

Government trade policy

ƒ Austria implements the trade regulations,

commercial policies and customs code of the

EU (ec.europa.eu/trade).

ƒ Austria trades freely with its fellow EEA

member states as well as Switzerland.

ƒ The EU has in place bilateral trade

agreements with 36 countries and regional

trade agreements with a number of trading

blocs.

ƒ National export credit insurance provider:

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB —

http://www.oekb.at).

ƒ The OeKB also offers the exports financing

scheme (EFS) to domestic and foreign

banks in Austria, enabling them to provide

export credit.

ƒ The EU maintains 74 free trade zones, but

none in Austria.

Currency and exchange controls

Official currency: Euro (EUR).

Exchange rate arrangement: free floating.

Austria does not impose foreign exchange

controls.

ƒ Capital transactions must be reported in

certain circumstances.

ƒ Austria applies controls to the foreign

currency assets of resident private pension

funds, which are not permitted to exceed

30 percent of the fund’s total assets.

Bank accounts

Permission to hold currency accounts

Within

Austria

Outside

Austria

EURForeign currency EURForeign currency

Resident

company ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Non-resident

company ✔ ✔ ✔ N/A