Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

The Swiss government has boosted its humanitarian support to victims of the war in Ukraine. On Friday it approved CHF80 million ($86 million) as an “expression of its solidarity with Ukrainians in need”. “Around 12 million people are dependent on emergency aid because of Russia’s ongoing military intervention in Ukraine. With this contribution, Switzerland is expressing its solidarity with Ukrainians in need,” the government said in a statementExternal link on...

A supermarket in St Petersburg: multinationals that supply Russians with daily necessities face tough decisions. Keystone / Anatoly Maltsev Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led to an exodus of well-known western brands from Russia, but not every company has joined the rush. As Apple has suspended sales and BP hurriedly announced its exit over the past two weeks, those multinationals that manufacture products that Russians rely on for daily life, from food...

This week, 171,085 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Switzerland, up 42% from the 120,901 cases reported a week earlier. In addition, the reported number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised leapt too. This week 482 were admitted, up 37% from 352 the week before. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comThe 7-day average case number had been in constant decline since the end of January 2022. However, the number of new cases turned upwards towards the end of February. On 11...

The Swiss Post Office more than doubled profits to CHF457 million ($493 million) last year as it was less affected by pandemic restrictions. The group’s financial arm, PostFinance, recorded a CHF272 million result, up from CHF162 million in 2020. This was achieved despite a fall in customer numbers, the amount of money they held at PostFinance and the continued negative interest rate environment. The postal service is seeing a decline in the number of letters being...

In addition to Western sanctions, many big companies have temporarily shuttered operations or exited Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Keystone / Yuri Kochetkov Russia has drawn up a list of around 50 countries, including Switzerland, that have committed “unfriendly actions” against Russia, its companies and citizens, in the wake of severe economic sanctions over the war in Ukraine, the Russian state media agency TASS reports. Moscow published the list on Monday...

GMOs are only permitted for research purposes in Switzerland, but opposition against a moratorium appears to be weakening. © Keystone/Christian Beutler The Swiss parliament has decided to ease restrictions on genetic engineering in agriculture, while extending in principle a moratorium for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until 2025. The Senate on Tuesday asked the government to propose details for the use of gene editing techniques on plants and seeds by the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have both had their assets frozen Keystone / Alexander Zemlianichenko The US, UK and EU have adopted sanctions aimed at freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in response to the war in Ukraine. They also plan to place sanctions on the Russian central bank and remove some of the country’s lenders from the SWIFT global payments system, in...

Aid workers load Swiss humanitarian relief supplies onto a train bound for Ukraine. Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit Around 35 tonnes of emergency aid, including medical equipment and tents, sent from Switzerland to help victims of the war in Ukraine have arrived in the capital, Kyiv. “The aid is urgently needed for hospitals serving the Ukrainian population,” the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) tweeted on Sunday. A large part of the humanitarian aid had been flown from...

This week, 120,9017 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Switzerland, up 24% from the 97,335 cases reported a week earlier. In addition, the reported number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised edged up slightly from 340 to 352 compared to the week before. Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.comThe 7-day average case number had been in constant decline since the end of January. However, the number began to turn upwards in the days leading up to the end of February. On 4...

Switzerland and the European Union have a complicated relationship. The recent decision by the Alpine nation to definitively shut the door on a framework agreement with the EU reaffirms its attachment to its independence. It shows that 30 years after refusing to join the EU, Switzerland’s stance has only been reinforced. We look at some of the main reasons why. For years Bern and Brussels have been working to recast their long-term relationship. In the...