Tag Archives: Latest News

SECO lowered this year’s GDP growth forecast from 2.8% (in March) to 2.6%. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has downgraded its economic growth forecast for 2022 to 2.6% due to the war in Ukraine and uncertainties in China. “The Swiss economy made a solid start to the year, but prospects for the international environment have waned,” SECO saidExternal link on Wednesday. “In particular, the global economy is at risk from the...

The requests for administrative assistance concern bank accounts of US clients who had not previously given their consent to the handing over of their account data © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The US tax authority IRS wants further information from the Swiss authorities on account data at 26 financial institutions. The IRS has made numerous requests for information in the past. The requests for administrative assistance concern bank accounts of US clients who had not...

Almost half of respondents backed a levy of CHF30 for short-haul flights and CHF120 for long-haul flights Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi Almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents to a Swiss survey are in favour of increasing the price of airline tickets for climate reasons. In the event of an introduction, 42% of respondents back a levy of CHF30 ($30.40) for short-haul flights and CHF120 for long-haul flights; 50% agreed with higher charges. Younger people were more...

The most important sustainable themes in 2021 were energy, social concerns and environmental issues. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron The volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland increased by almost a third last year, reaching an all-time high of CHF1.98 trillion ($2 trillion). This continuing growth – the rate is almost the same as last year – is mainly due to the increased use of sustainable investment approaches and the overall positive market development in...

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statementExternal link released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company. On March 4, the Swiss firm ceased all international cross-border...

Switzerland wants to update its 2014 free trade agreement with China, but Beijing refuses to talk, owing to criticism of its human rights record, report the NZZ am Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers. Bern wants to reduce customs duties for more Swiss products and introduce sustainability aspects into the agreement, but Beijing has been refusing to talk since 2018, writes the NZZ am Sonntag. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) confirmed to the paper...

The overwhelming majority of products with packaging designed to appeal to children contain too much sugar, salt or fat, report Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung newspapers. This is according to a survey conducted around Easter by the consumer organisation Fédération romande de consommateurs (FRC) and its counterparts in the German and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. These consumer groups analysed 344 goods targeting children aged over three years sold in...

Switzerland is considering emergency stockpiling of plastic packaging as the Ukraine war brings a world shortage of packaging material, reports the NZZ am Sonntag. Up to now the government has only stockpiled plastic to be able to produce disinfectant bottles. “With the experiences from the pandemic as well as the changed availabilities and strong price developments, the needs are being reviewed,” the Federal Office for National Economic SupplyExternal link confirmed...

Organic farming yields can be up to 50% lower than non-organic farming, depending on the product, claimed the Syngenta CEO. © Keystone / Peter Schneider Erik Fyrwald, the CEO of the Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta, has called for an end to organic farming to avoid a worsening food crisis. The president of the Swiss Small Farmers’ Association meanwhile dismissed his arguments as “grotesque”. Rich countries should increase their agricultural production in order to...

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,...