by Maurer (left) has publicly voiced concern over the costs caused the economic lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Keystone/Peter Klaunzer) Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer wants the country’s central bank to contribute to the reduction of the debt caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “I suggest the Swiss National Bank spends the money from an annual surplus to reduce coronavirus-related debts,” he told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday. The central bank made a surplus of CHF48.9 billion (.2 billion) last year. Under a deal with the finance ministry, the bank paid CHF4 billion to the national government and the 26 cantons. New debt is likely to increase in the current year to between CHF30 billion and CHF50 billion, Maurer said recently. He
Topics:
Swissinfo considers the following as important: 3) Swiss Markets and News, 3.) Swiss Info, Featured, health, newsletter, Ueli Maurer
This could be interesting, too:
Eamonn Sheridan writes CHF traders note – Two Swiss National Bank speakers due Thursday, November 21
Charles Hugh Smith writes How Do We Fix the Collapse of Quality?
Marc Chandler writes Sterling and Gilts Pressed Lower by Firmer CPI
Michael Lebowitz writes Trump Tariffs Are Inflationary Claim The Experts
Maurer (left) has publicly voiced concern over the costs caused the economic lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Keystone/Peter Klaunzer)
Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer wants the country’s central bank to contribute to the reduction of the debt caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I suggest the Swiss National Bank spends the money from an annual surplus to reduce coronavirus-related debts,” he told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday.
The central bank made a surplus of CHF48.9 billion ($50.2 billion) last year. Under a deal with the finance ministry, the bank paid CHF4 billion to the national government and the 26 cantons.
New debt is likely to increase in the current year to between CHF30 billion and CHF50 billion, Maurer said recently.
He added that it won’t be possible to reduce debts quickly without implementing drastic spending cuts over the next few years, despite a debt reduction mechanism, known as debt brake.
Maurer said the sale of mobile phone licences could also generate a few a hundred million francs in revenue.
The Swiss government has revised its economic forecast because of the coronavirus pandemic. Predictions have recently been revised sharply downwards and the government expects the worst recession in 45 years.
You Might Also Like
Covid-19 therapy could come by end of year, vaccine in 2021
Swiss pharma and business insiders predict that an effective drug therapy against Covid-19 will be available by the end of this year, but a vaccine might take a year longer than that. “In the best-case scenario, a drug could be available before the end of 2020,” said on Monday Francesco De Rubertis, director and co-founder of Medicxi, a Geneva-based venture capital company that invests in biotechnology.
Coronavirus: numbers in Switzerland slow further
By 14 April 2020, a total 25,936 cases of Covid-19 infection had been recorded in Switzerland, a rise of 3,683 over the preceding 7 days. However, despite the continued rise in cases there are indications measures to slowdown the spread of the virus are working.
Coronavirus: predicting post-lockdown Switzerland with positivity
As Switzerland moves towards easing Covid-19 social restrictions, some fear the virus will get away again. A key part of containing the spread is testing. One way to evaluate how comprehensive testing is is to look at positivity, the percentage of tests that are positive.
Coronavirus: the age difference behind lower Swiss death rate
Switzerland’s Covid-19 death rate has been lower than much of the rest of Europe. A lower infection rate among older people appears to be one reason. The rates of deaths among those either recovering or dying have been particularly high in Belgium (40%), France (34%) and Italy (31%).
Coronavirus: 5.5 percent of Geneva might be infected, according to antibody study
A study done by researchers at Geneva’s HUG hospital suggests a Covid-19 infection rate of 5.5% across the canton of Geneva. Antibody blood tests, run on a randomly selected sample of the canton’s population, suggest around 27,000 might have been infected by the virus, a number 5.7 times the official count of 4,733 recorded on 24 April 2020.
Coronavirus: Swiss schools and other establishments set to reopen
On 29 April 2020, Switzerland’s government announced plans to allow schools and other establishments to reopen on Monday 11 May 2020. From 11 May 2020, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, primary and lower secondary schools and sports training centres will be allowed to reopen. In addition, public transport will operate according to the standard timetable, announced the government.
Coronavirus: relatively few medical staff infected in Switzerland
In Switzerland, around 3% of medical staff have been infected with Covid-19, based on data covering the period up until Easter, according to Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health.
‘We will come through this together’
The upheaval caused by the coronavirus, Covid-19, is all around us. And I know many are anxious, worried and confused. That’s absolutely natural. We are facing a health threat unlike any other in our lifetimes. Meanwhile, the virus is spreading, the danger is growing, and our health systems, economies and day-to-day lives are being severely tested.
Tags: Featured,Health,newsletter,Ueli Maurer