Austrian economy falls in line with the European trend

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Finance

By Matej Klenovský. Translation by Tomáš Buš Austria is in line with the current economic trend in Europe, according to several economic indicators made public in Austria on Friday. Analysis of the results of the indicators show that at the moment, there is a moderate decrease, almost stagnation, in the price levels. Meanwhile, industrial production […]

City of Vienna further in debt in 2013

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Finance

The level of debt run up by the Social Democrat controlled Vienna city council is at a record high after increasing by 285 million EUR in the last year to 4.63 billion EUR The statistics show that the city paid 84 percent of its running investment costs from the current budget, but about 16 percent […]

BAWAG prosecutors fail to find evidence

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Finance

Linz prosecutors have dropped an investigation against BAWAG PSK after finding no evidence of wrongdoing. The announcement was made on Wednesday when prosecutors in the city said that they could not find proof that staff at the bank had tricked the municipal government into a 2007 swap deal. However a civil case is still being […]

Austrian company to build Irish motorway

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Finance

An Austrian company is part of a group that has taken on the task of constructing and running part of an Irish motorway. Strabag SE, a technology company that provides construction services, is part of the DirectRoute consortium who won the contract for the construction job, they announced on Monday. The Vienna-based company has a […]

Russia and Austria sign major gas deal

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Finance

A deal between Austria and Russia that will see gas being piped around Europe via Austria by 2017 has been signed by heads of two major gas companies. The news comes after the Russian gas giant Gazprom met in Vienna with Austrian partners last week, after which the company announced that they had agreed on […]

No Buwog compensation hearing till Autumn

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Finance

By Rob Hyde in Vienna Former Immofinanz director Kark Petrikovics and ex-lobbyist Peter Hochegger are set to appear in court in a row over illegal commissions from the sale of state owned properties. The hearing, centred around the alleged commissions received of 9.9 million Euro paid during the privatisation of construction giant, Buwog, are now […]

Bad bank solution for Hypo Alpe Adria

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Finance

Austria’s national bank governor (OeNB) Ewald Nowotny has come out in favour of a “Bad Bank” model to solve the problems of the Hypo Alpe Adria (HGAA) bank. The bank in Carinthia was at the centre of a scandal after it was revealed that it had been involved in a number of questionable activities including […]

Sweet success for Schwedenbomben planned

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Finance

The owners of the popular sweet manufacturers Schwedenbomben recently rescued from insolvency after it was sold to Heidi Chocolat S.A. are planning to invest heavily to allow for expansion into new markets. The new owners say that the expansion plans mean that they are hoping to increase production by 70% and that means that even […]

Football manager fined 30,000 Euro

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Finance

Adi Hütter, the manager of the football team SV Scholz Grödig (Salzburg state), was sentenced to a fine of 30,000 Euros on Wednesday due to tax evasion. Mr Hütter has to pay half of the amount. The former football star from Austria Salzburg and current manager of SV Scholz Grödig is believed to have tricked […]

Baumgartner tax row

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Finance

The tax proceedings of the extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner are still underway. Mr Baumgartner told the Austria Press Agency that he asked the Independent Finance Senate (UFS) to resolve his case. Mr Baumgartner has recently told the newspaper “Kronen Zeitung” that the Ministry of Finance denied his tax-saving status as part of an external audit. […]