le News

In Switzerland it is possible to order goods online without paying up front. Retailers will send orders with a payment slip included with the goods. Fraudsters are exploiting this quirk of Swiss postal retail. Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.comFraudsters order goods online pretending to be someone else. The goods are then shipped without the need to provide any payment details. The fraudster then waits for the order to be delivered and takes it from the unsuspecting victim’s...

On 1 July 2022, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (FNSI) gave a green light for the restart of Beznau 1, Switzerland’s oldest nuclear reactor. Beznau 1 – Image : AxpoThe reactor, which entered operation in 1969, was shut down on 29 April 2022 for planned annual maintenance. During the work the fuel assembly was replaced, said FNSI. The work was done by more than 400 people including local and international nuclear experts. Beznau 1, Switzerland first operation nuclear...

Even before high inflation hit people’s pockets many Swiss households were over extended. In 2020, almost one in six residents lived in a household with debt arrears, according to data released this week by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comThe most common overdue payments were taxes (7.5%), health insurance premiums (5.5%), phone bills (4.1%), utility bills (3.4%), credit cards and other loans (2.7%) and rent or mortgage payments (2.3%). In addition,...

On 4 July 2022, Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) published June inflation data, which show prices 3.4% higher than one year ago, well above the Swiss National Bank target of 2.0%. Photo by Ahmed Muntasir on Pexels.comSwitzerland’s consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.5% in June 2022, less than the 0.7% rise in May 2022. At the end of May 2022, annual inflation was 2.9%. By the end of June 2022 it was 3.4%, the highest since 1993. Big drivers of rising prices continue...

Switzerland faces a potential gas shortage next winter, warns Switzerland’s Federal Council. Reduced consumption or rationing cannot be ruled out, it warns. © Katie Nesling | Dreamstime.comAt a press conference in Bern on Wednesday, economy minister Guy Parmelin said that there is a very real risk of a gas shortage over winter, reported RTS. Around three quarters of the gas used in Switzerland comes from Germany, he said. If storage facilities cannot be filled as planned a shortage in...

In Switzerland, it is possible to pay delinquent debts with large sums of cash. Some criminals are using the loophole to launder money, reports Le Matin. Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.comSwiss broadcaster SRF investigated several official debt enforcement offices across Switzerland and found that large sums of cash were passing through some of them. In Geneva, CHF 24 million of cash passed through its cantonal offices des poursuites in 2021, some of it dirty, according to SRF. It...

This week, the Swiss franc rose to beyond parity with the euro as traders sought safe haven assets as concerns about risks to global growth grew. © Cameracraft8 | Dreamstime.comThe Euro-Swiss Franc pair fell below 1.00 franc per euro during the morning of 29 June 2022 and remained below 1.00 until the morning of 1 July 2022 when the value of a euro exceed that of a franc. The pair has not been this low since 2015. The rise has been driven by the franc’s haven status and the Swiss...

A survey found that the Swiss pay far more for concert tickets that their European neighbours. And the differences are significant, with Swiss price premiums ranging from 40% to 77% depending on the performer, reports RTS. Photo by picjumbo.com on Pexels.comAccording to Bon à Savoir, the consumer association behind the survey, there are many examples of inflated Swiss concert prices. For example, the cheapest spots to see the Rolling Stones in Bern were CHF 170. In Munich, the same ticket...

Ueli Maurer, Switzerland’s finance minister, is concerned about Switzerland’s finances after a recent round of decisions to substantially increase public spending. Swiss finance minister Ueli MaurerDuring June 2022, Switzerland’s parliament agreed to significant increases to spending on the army, healthcare and the environment. The situation is not sustainable Maurer told SRF. In June, parliament agreed to boost military spending by CHF 2 billion, raising it from CHF 5 to CHF 7 billion...

This week, a project to build an underground freight tunnel network stretching from Geneva to St Gallen, was given a start date of 1 August 2022 by the Federal Council, reported RTS. The Cargo sous terrain (CST) project will connect Switzerland’s key hubs starting in 2031. CST aims to take the strain off the road and railway networks, reduce the environmental impact of transport and improve the delivery of goods across the country. The project, which was launched in 2013, includes a...