Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

“No natural gas, no war” protestors in the capital Bern on Saturday ©keystone/peter Schneider Renouncing Russian oil and gas would have serious consequences for the Swiss economy, an expert from the KOF Swiss Economic Institute has told a Sunday newspaper. If imports were to be cut off, for example in the wake of tougher sanctions against Russia, Swiss gross domestic product (GDP) would fall by 3-4 percentage points, spread over two years, according to calculations...

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...

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...

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...

Companies will no longer have to prove there are no Swiss job candidates in some sectors. Moves to cut red tape for non-EU foreign workers in Switzerland will not necessarily lead to more work visas being issued. On Friday, the government announced measures to make it easier to hire skilled workers from such countries as India, Britain, China and the United States. By making it simpler to award B and L work permits, Switzerland hopes that the “innovative power of...