Austria’s annual inflation rate remained steady at 4% in October this year, the same as in September.

Services continued to exert the largest influence on inflation, increasing by 4.6% after a 4.7% rise the previous month.

Inflation for industrial goods eased slightly to 1.3% from 1.4% in September, while prices for food, tobacco, and alcohol rose 3.9%, up from 3.8% the month before.

Energy prices saw the biggest jump, climbing 9.7% year-on-year in October, up from 8.1% in September, driven by higher electricity and gas costs.

Core inflation, which includes industrial goods and services, eased slightly to 3.4% from 3.5% in September, according to Statistics Austria Director General Manuela Lenk.

Consumer prices increased by 0.4% in October, recovering from a 0.2% decline in the previous month.

In addition, Austria’s economy grew in the third quarter, bouncing back from a contraction in the previous quarter, according to a flash estimate from the WIFO economic institute published on Thursday.

Gross domestic product increased 0.1% sequentially in the September quarter, recovering from a 0.1% decline in the June quarter.

Regarding expenditure, consumer demand showed slight stabilisation, while investment and foreign trade weighed on growth in Q3.

Household consumption edged up 0.1%, whereas government spending fell 0.3%. Gross fixed capital formation declined by 0.3%, and exports dropped 0.4%.

Furthermore, year-on-year, Austria’s GDP grew 0.6% in the third quarter, slightly faster than the 0.5% expansion recorded in the second quarter.

Elsewhere, Statistics Austria reported that producer prices fell 1.1% annually in September, after a 1.3% decline in August. On a monthly basis, producer prices edged down 0.1%.

Moreover, Austria’s manufacturing sector contracted at a slower rate in October, supported by rising output, according to S&P Global survey data released on Thursday.

The UniCredit Bank Austria Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 48.8 in October from 47.6 in September, though any reading below 50 still signals contraction.