Tag Archives: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

They say a week is a long time in politics – last week we discovered it’s a long time in a pandemic as well. We started the week anxiously watching the rising Covid cases in Europe, and wondering what new restrictions might be heading our way for Christmas. At the same time here in Geneva journalists were preparing for a special session of the World Health Assembly, swiftly followed by a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both meetings were...

A total of 175,000 stamps will be issued, with 65,000 copies of the most common digital design but just 50 of the rarest SwissPost/Gregor Forster The launch of Swiss Post’s first “crypto” stamp has met with such high demand that the online shop was overwhelmed for several hours. Sales of the “Swiss Crypto Stamp” started at 6am on Thursday. Demand was very high, which had “temporarily led to technical problems on postshop.ch”, the Swiss Post told the AWP news agency....

An average Swiss household spends more than 14% of its gross income on housing and energy. © Keystone/Christian Beutler The average private household in Switzerland spent about 31% of its income on taxes, social security and health insurance premiums in 2019. That’s 1% up on the previous year, slightly reducing the individual budget and the chances of setting money aside. Latest official figures show that the average gross monthly income was CHF9,582 ($10,301) up...

The way that the Swiss watch television today has changed a bit since the 1960s. akg-images In a little over a year Play Suisse, the streaming service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), has become a major player in the Swiss digital landscape, surpassing platforms like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Critic Max Borg looks at the strengths and weaknesses of Play Suisse and its rivals. To mark the first anniversary of Play Suisse, the SBC, SWI swissinfo.ch’s...

Fabio Canetg The Australian central bank is being attacked by the markets and is losing control over interest rates. Something similar happened to the Swiss National Bank in 2015 with the minimum exchange rate for the euro. But what is behind this? The government should be able to borrow cheaply. That is what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) promised when the pandemic broke out. It fixed the interest rate on three-year government bonds at 0.1%. Economists call...

Idyllic: Crans-Montana Keystone / Laurent Gillieron During the pandemic, some skiers have been doing just that. But does the romantic vision tally with the reality? It was in May, while hiking along the forest trails and waterfalls of La Tièche, with views towards the snow-dusted peaks of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, that fitness coach Jessica Z Christensen decided to spend more time in the Swiss mountains. After a decade of being a digital nomad, the Italian and...

Futuristic architecture sketches from Pascal Häusermann, 1970. Competition in Cannes, private urban atmosphere. Collection Frac Centre-Val de Loire / Donation Pascal Häusermann Swiss architects were swept up in the movement to build bubble houses out of concrete and plastic in the 1960s. While the bubble movement burst decades ago, many of the original structures are still standing to this day. Need more space? Why not just build an extra room on the side of your...

Audemars Piguet is one of four independent brands that dominate the global luxury watch market. Thomas Kern Driven by strong Chinese demand, Swiss watchmaking is recovering after suffering one of its biggest economic shocks in 2020. But the crisis has further widened the gap between the few brands that take the lion’s share of the profits and the rest of the industry. My specialty is telling stories, and decoding what happens in Switzerland and the world from...

Switzerland joined the IMF in 1992 and is one of 24 members of the International Monetary and Financial Committee IMFC (Archive picture) Keystone/Stephen Jaffe/Handout The government seeks to renew its policy to support assistance measures by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It asked parliament to approve plans to continue international monetary cooperation to the tune of CHF10 billion ($10.8 billion) by 2028. The existing legal basis expires in April 2023,...

Six out of ten women lawyers in Switzerland work part-time. Keystone / Anthony Anex Women make up half of the highly skilled workforce in Switzerland, but work fewer hours, according to a study published on Tuesday. One in three would like to work more, under certain conditions. Women often opt for part-time work, and the liberal professions are no exception, says the studyExternal link carried out by the Sotomo Institute for the Swiss Union of Liberal Professions...