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On 10 January 2019, the Economist came out with its latest Big Mac index. Also known as the burger benchmark, the index compares the price of a Big Mac around the world. © Kevkhiev Yury | Dreamstime.com The index uses the burger to compare the relative purchasing power of different currencies. Countries where Big Macs cost less than in the United States (in US$ terms) are deemed to have weak currencies, and those where they are more expensive are considered to have overvalued currencies. In...

Nearly every year brings administrative changes for business owners and managers. The five most likely to be felt by Swiss SMEs this year are set out below. 1. Social insurance taxes The three main ones (AVS, AI, APG) remain the same in 2019. Together they come to 10.25% of salary, of which half is deducted from the salary amount. Unemployment insurance of 2.2%, with half deducted from salary, remains the same too. Deductions for payments made to families have risen in some cantons so these...

On 28 December 2018, Italy issued government bonds maturing in 2028 at an effective interest rate of 2.7%1. Interest rates like this combined with the scale of Italian public debt (157% of GDP) mean Italian taxpayers spend more on public debt interest than they do on education. In 2015, Italy spent 4.1% of GDP on public debt interest and only 2.8% of GDP on education. © Byvalet | Dreamstime.com This week, Switzerland issued bonds maturing in 2030 at an effective interest rate of -0.041%2....

Volatile markets have been reshuffling the ranking of the world’s most valuable companies. Over the course of the last six months, Nestlé overtook Royal Dutch Shell to become Europe’s most valuable company. © Alexey Novikov | Dreamstime.com At the end of June 2018, Royal Dutch Shell had Europe’s highest market capitalisation (US$ 293 billion), making it the world’s 13th most valuable company, while Nestlé ranked 21st globally, with a market capitalisation of US$ 233 billion. Since then the...

Reaching the official retirement age1 is an important milestone for many people. Some look forward to it while others dread it. © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com Some dreading it would prefer to continue working either because they enjoy their work or would like the extra income. Some feel they are being systematically and unfairly labelled too old to work. A survey by the bank UBS showed that many people now don’t feel old until they’re in their 80s. A one-size-fits-all official retirement...

In 2016, Switzerland’s government decided to tighten the VAT exemption on imported purchases, a move that affects most online orders from foreign retailers. The new rules took effect on 1 January 2019 – they were originally planned for 1 January 2018 but systems and processes were not ready. © Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com Until the beginning of this year, any order attracting less than CHF 5 francs of VAT was allowed across the border tax free. This meant CHF 64.931 of most goods and CHF 2002...

Since the beginning of December 2018 more and more counterfeit 100 Swiss franc notes have been appearing in the Swiss canton of Valais in and around Sion and Conthey. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com The fake notes, which the local Police say can be spotted if compared to real ones, have been making their way into circulation via shopping centres, kiosks and service stations in the Sion and Conthey region. Counterfeiting is rare in Switzerland because Swiss notes are virtually impossible to...

Growing old is something that happens to nearly all of us. However, according to a recent study close to one in three people (28%) reported age-related discrimination in Switzerland in 2017. © Photovs | Dreamstime.com The rate of age discrimination (28%) is higher than sexism (22%) and racism (12%), according to Christian Maggiori, a professor focused on social work interviewed by the newspaper La Liberté. Maggiori thinks the high incidence of agism could be partly explained by a lack laws...

Today, The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, announced it has approved a deal safeguarding the rights of Swiss and UK citizens after Brexit. © Melinda Nagy | Dreamstime.com The agreement is part of a package of deals being worked out as part of a plan dubbed “Mind the Gap”. Under the agreement, any UK citizen residing in Switzerland before Brexit will retain all of their existing rights for life. The same will apply to Swiss citizens living in the UK. When the UK leaves the EU, the...

Heidi Joos, the managing director of the organisation Avenir 50 plus, and others, plan to launch a referendum aimed at introducing laws against age discrimination in Switzerland. © Vadimgozhda | Dreamstime.com Age discrimination in recruitment is common in Switzerland. Some job search websites allow filtering by age, and job adverts sometimes specify applicants be below a particular age. The initiative aims to provide a framework for seeking legal justice in cases of age discrimination, to...