Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it remained at 1.50%. ©-Sergei-Razvodovskij-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%, its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is...

© Convisum | Dreamstime.com The latest figures show that Swiss salaries have not kept up with inflation. An average Swiss salary rose 0.4% in 2017, compared to inflation of 0.5%. This left the average salary earner 0.1% worse off in real terms over the year. The figures were the same for both the secondary and tertiary sectors. The rise in 2017 (+0.4%) was the same as 2016 (+0.4%) but less than 2015 (+0.5%) and 2014...

Third quarter Swiss GDP figures released yesterday show Switzerland’s economy shrank compared to the quarter before. ©-Tobias-Arhelger-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge GDP for the quarter to September was down by 0.2% compared to the quarter before, ending an 18-month run of quarterly growth. The fall in Swiss GDP follows a quarterly slowdown across the rest of Europe, in Germany in particular. A fall in the output...

© Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com A recently published study ranks Switzerland 10th on gender pay gap. Switzerland’s gap of 17% is bigger than Italy’s (5.3%), Luxembourg’s (5.5%), Belgium’s (6.1%), Sweden’s (13.3%), Spain’s (14.2%), Denmark’s (15%), France’s (15.2%) or the Netherlands’ (15.6%), but lower than Finland’s (17.4%), Portugal’s (17.5%), Austria’s (20.1%), the UK’s (21%) or Germany’s (21.5%). Confusion...

Not quite down-at-the-heel (© KEYSTONE / GAETAN BALLY) On average, heads of large Swiss corporations have suffered a marked drop in salary. In 2017, the median wage of the heads of 20 leading companies dropped by nearly 30%. According to the executive compensation report published by consulting firm PwCexternal link on Tuesday, the median salary of the heads of 20 firms in the leading SMI index fell from CHF7.7 million...

The brewer Christophe Haeni tastes a beer at the microbrewery “Garage”, which is part of the restaurant and bar “Barbiere” in Bern The Swiss beer market recovered last year thanks to the hot weather, as well as the continued boom in microbreweries and thirst for local craft beers. The Swiss beer market grew by 1.8% to 469 million litres (124 million gallons) between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. This follows a...

Two cups of coffee per day are not enough to keep the Swiss going. (Keystone) The Swiss love their coffee and knock back more than three cups per day. They came in third, behind Germans and Norwegians, in an international ranking of coffee consumers. The Swiss drank no less than 1100 cups of coffee per person per day, according to a ranking published on Monday by CafetierSuisseexternal link, a catering industry...

A poster against lower corporate tax rates in a 2017 national vote campaign argues that such cuts would increase taxes for the middle class. On Sunday, Bern voters again rejected a package of corporate tax cuts. Voters in canton Bern have rejected a proposal to lower corporate taxes, dealing a surprise blow to the government and parliament trying to give the canton a competitive edge. Nearly 54% of voters on Sunday came...

Cirillo has been identified as the right person to take the Post Office forward. The Swiss Post Office has appointed a new chief executive to lead the state-owned company out of a troubled few months following a subsidies scandal that came to light earlier this year. Roberto Cirillo will take over at the helm next April, replacing interim boss Ulrich Hurni, the Swiss Post announced on Thursday. Hurni has been minding...

This week, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided the planned electronic motorway vignette will be optional. Drivers will be able to choose. ©-Denis-Linine-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge Anyone wanting to drive on Switzerland’s motorway network must first buy a vignette, a road tax sticker introduced in 1985, which must be displayed on the windscreen. It currently costs CHF 40. The government’s announcement that...