Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

Elon Musk’s maternal side of the family can be traced back to villages in the Emmental region of Switzerland. Keystone / Patrick Pleul Tesla CEO Elon Musk has roots in a small, picturesque farming region in central Switzerland. Using genealogy websites and local archives, historians have been able to connect Musk with the Haldimann name, which is still present in the Emmental region today. There are few images as quintessentially Swiss as the green pastures,...

There have been some 1,700 cases of suspected Covid-19 loan frauds reported since the start of the pandemic. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza The number of reported suspicious financial transactions continued to rise in Switzerland in 2021, but at a lower rate than in the first year of the pandemic. Switzerland’s Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) saw a 12% increase of suspicious activity reports last year to reach 5,962. For the second year in a row, a significant...

“Households are feeling the strain as prices continue to rise,” SECO said on Monday. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Consumers in Switzerland are much more pessimistic about the general economic situation, with households feeling the strain as prices continue to rise, a new survey shows. April data published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on Monday shows that overall consumer sentiment has deteriorated “significantly” in recent months. The consumer...

For the Swiss government, applying such a sweeping set of sanctions is a work in progress. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer There’s a well-worn Swiss bankers joke about the venality of a particular country. The actual country changes with the times but since this is April 2022, it starts like this: “Where is the capital of Russia?” You can guess the punchline. Two months into Vladimir Putin’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, however, what is remarkable is just how...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is very opaque by international standards. That has to change, says Yvan Lengwiler, professor of economics at the University of Basel. He explains his proposals in the latest Geldcast update. “There is no right to secrecy,” says Yvan Lengwiler – not even at the Swiss National Bank. He has joined forces with Stefan Gerlach of the EFG Bank and Charles Wyplosz, a professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, to form the “SNB...

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, many Russian internet users have been using the Swiss software Kiwix to download Wikipedia fearing that it will soon be banned. © Keystone / Christian Beutler The Swiss software Kiwix enables the user to copy entire websites so they can be accessible offline. Now that Wikipedia risks sanction in Russia because of its content on the Ukraine war, downloads of the free online encyclopaedia using Kiwix are off the charts. Wikipedia...

The issue of rising energy and fuel prices is ‘on the government’s radar’, according to Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga © Keystone / Christian Beutler The Swiss government has set up a working group to examine whether measures are needed to relieve the burden on households caused by rising energy prices. “[The government] is observing the development very closely in order to clarify whether support is needed to cushion hardship cases,” said Energy Minister...

Prices in Switzerland are on the rise, albeit less drastically than in the EU and the US. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Trade unions say middle- and lower-income workers in Switzerland are facing a “shock” in 2022, with wages unable to offset rising inflation and health insurance costs. With inflation currently over 2% in Switzerland, the cost of living is going up, and workers need a salary boost to offset this, said the country’s biggest trade union group on...

Peace marchers head towards the centre of Bern on Monday © Keystone/peter Schneider The traditional Easter march has taken place in the Swiss capital, Bern. This year the “Walk for Peace” focused on issues including the climate and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Up to 1,000 people, waving rainbow-coloured peace flags, gathered by the River Aare on Monday. They walked along the river, within sight of the Ukrainian embassy at Helvetiaplatz, into the city and ended in...

Switzerland’s finance industry: a little less important than a decade ago, but still a big plank of the economy. Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller The contribution of Switzerland’s finance industry to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased over the past ten years. The share of GDP accounted for by financial and insurance services was 9% last year, down from 10% in 2011, the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)External link said in a report...