Michelle Topham 
If you are planning to move to Vienna, or even just to visit, you may want to know what the inflation rate is in Austria in May, 2023.
After all, the higher an inflation rate is the more expensive it is to live in Vienna or to even take a holiday here. The lower the inflation rate, the cheaper everything will be for you.
Unfortunately for you, if moving to Vienna or taking a trip here is dependent on the inflation rate in Austria in May, 2023, you may want to think again.
Not only is Austria now the fourth most expensive country in the eurozone, the Austrian inflation rate is one of the highest in the EU.
It is also higher than the United States and Canada, much of Asia, Russia, much of the Middle East and South America and on and on and on.
And, at this point, it does not show any signs of slowing down.
What is the inflation rate in Austria in May, 2023?
As May is just beginning, it is impossible to say what the inflation rate will be for this month until it is over.
What we do have, however, is an estimate by Statistics Austria this week that states the inflation rate in Austria in April was 9.8 percent.
That is an increase of .6 percent since March with, according to them, the main upward pressure coming from prices of services, travel and leisure.
Having just spent an average of 18-30 percent more last month for the same brands of basic food items (cheese, meat, eggs, milk, bread etc) than I did late last year, and food prices still increasing every time I go to Hofer or Penny Markt, the cheapest supermarkets in Vienna, I find that statement laughable.
In fact, not only services, travel and leisure are increasing exponentially in Austria, but the cost of groceries are rapidly getting out of control, (although Statistics Austria did admit that was the case back in March), as is rent, clothing, non-alcoholic beverages, the cost of a hotel room and on and on.
What is Austria’s inflation rate compared to other EU countries?
Terrible and getting worse would pretty much describe the current inflation rate in Austria when compared to other EU countries.
One of the easiest ways to track Austria’s inflation rate to show you how bad things are compared to the rest of the EU is to use the Financial Times’ Global Inflation Tracker.
Now, that tracker is only updated through March, 2023 so far but, as Austria’s inflation in April, 2023 has risen while most of the rest of the EU’s has fallen or remained around the same, that just means Austria’s current situation is likely even worse than what is shown on the tracker.
Here for instance is what the Financial Times’ Global Inflation Tracker has to say about Austria’s inflation rate in March, 2023 compared to that of Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain.
As you can see, the inflation rates for these five EU countries in March, 2023 were:
- Austria: 9.2 percent
- Germany: 7.2 percent
- Belgium: 6.7 percent
- France: 5.9 percent
- Spain: 4.1 percent
Choose Austria and four other countries in the EU and, you will get similar results for most of them.
What is the Austrian government doing about inflation?
Austria has been governed by the ÖVP and Die Grünen (aka The Austrian People’s Party and The Greens) since late 2019.
These are the same people who put Austria in one of the world’s longest lockdowns due to Covid 19.
The same people who mandated an experimental “vaccine” for everyone in the country over the age of 18.
The same people who mandated FFP2 masks be worn for the better part of two years, which culminated in Austria having the third largest number of Covid cases per capita in the world.
The same people who mandated the closure of bars, restaurants, cafes, hotels, hairdressers, beauty salons and most small businesses for a year, culminating in thousands of small businesses around Austria going bankrupt.
Yep, these same people who are now making excuses for the abysmal way they handled Covid-19 are now in charge of “controlling inflation”.
Yeah, good luck with that.
According to an ORF article this week, the Economic Research Institute (WIFO), The Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB) and the Chamber of Labor (AK) are just some of the organizations begging the government to take action against inflation.
So far, however, nothing has been agreed upon.
In other words, inflation in Austria marches steadily onwards.
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