The fights in Slovenia and Croatia interrupted some important transport links to South-Eastern-Europe. The decline of Austria's foreign trade with Yugoslavia accelerated. Austria's tourism industry benefitted to some extent from the collapse of tourism in Yugoslavia. Retail and wholesale firms...

The retail price for the best-selling cigarette brand in Austria currently includes 74 percent in taxes, more than in any of the neighboring countries. The tax rate is lowest in Slovakia (47 percent), the Czech Republic (50 percent) and Switzerland (55 percent). Smokers go to considerable...

Austria has always been among the OECD countries with the highest net petrol prices. Compared to Germany, annual average prices (excluding taxes) in 1998 were higher by 30 percent for Eurosuper, and by 27 percent for diesel. In Austria, petrol prices were weaker in their response to changes in...