Tag Archives: Latest News

Switzerland’s Tête de Moine (Monk’s Head) cheese broke all-time sales and production records last year, due particularly to its “conviviality”, according to the sector’s president. Tête de Moine sold 3,300 tons sold worldwide in 2022, up 3.7% on the previous year, despite a difficult economic climate marked by the strong Swiss franc and war in Ukraine. The main export markets are Germany and France, sector president Jacques Gygax said on Monday. Gygax put this...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has posted an annual loss of CHF132 billion ($143 billion) for 2022, the biggest in its 115-year history. “The loss on foreign currency positions amounted to around CHF131 billion and the loss on Swiss franc positions was around CHF1 billion. A valuation gain of CHF400 million was recorded on gold holdings,” the SNB said in a statement on Monday. The 2022 loss means the SNB will not make its usual payout to the Swiss federal and cantonal...

Travellers at Geneva airport in December © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott While countries around the world impose curbs on travellers from China as Covid-19 cases there surge, the Swiss authorities are still weighing up possible measures. On Wednesday health experts from the 27 EU member states couldn’t agree on compulsory testing for travellers from China, but they strongly recommended it. The EU health experts also recommended, among other things, that medical...

In 2022, 17.3% of all new cars sold in Switzerland were 100% electric, while 8% were plug-in hybrid models, according to Swiss eMobility. Keystone/gaetan Bally Around one in four new cars purchased last year in Switzerland were either 100% electric or plug-in hybrid models. The country’s best-selling model was an electric car: the Tesla Model Y, the Swiss eMobility association reported on Monday. In 2022, 17.3% of all new cars sold were 100% electric, while 8% were...

People walking through the city centre of the Swiss capital, Bern © Keystone / Christian Beutler The Swiss population is set to surpass the 9 million mark in 2023, according to calculations by the SonntagsZeitung. “If the permanent and non-permanent resident population are added together, Switzerland is likely to exceed the threshold of nine million inhabitants this year,” the newspaper wrote on Sunday. Since the introduction of the free movement of people with...

Syngenta employees carry out research on corn in Stein, canton Aargau, in November 2021. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Firms invested CHF16.8 billion ($18 billion) in research and development (R&D) activities in Switzerland last year, a 4% increase compared to 2019. A survey carried out by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) and the Swiss Business Federation economiesuisse said the pharmaceutical sector was the biggest R&D investor (CHF6.2 billion, or 37% of the...

Buildings near Kyiv destroyed by a Russian airstrike on December 14. The war in Ukraine is one factor weighing down the Swiss economy. Keystone / Oleg Petrasyuk Growth forecasts for Switzerland have been revised downwards for the current year and 2023 by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, amid fears of a global recession and the war in Ukraine. The economists also changed their predictions for inflation. The KOF Consensus Forecast expects gross domestic product (GDP)...

Keystone / Ennio Leanza Swiss cement giant Holcim said on Wednesday it would leave Russia, adding that the business there would then operate independently under a different brand. Holcim has signed an agreement to sell its Russian unit to the local management team, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The sale will have “no significant impact” on the world’s biggest cement maker, as the unit generated less than 1% of the group’s net sales in 2021, it said. Holcim...

The GoldenPass Express direct line now allows passengers to travel from Montreux on Lake Geneva to Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland without changing trains. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer Swiss Federal Railways has launched a new timetable, which offers more regional services and direct links between eastern and western Switzerland, and additional connections to popular tourist regions. From Sunday, trains run every two hours directly between Romanshorn, in canton...

Parliamentarians were split on how to divide the tax revenues © Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari Switzerland’s 26 cantons will receive 75% of the additional revenue from the minimum taxation of large companies, the government 25%. On Tuesday the House of Representatives agreed with the Senate on the proposal to tax all companies with a turnover of more than €750 million (CHF740 million) at 15%, in line with a reform decided by the OECD and the G20. This...