Tag Archives: Personal finance

Last weekend, the PLR/FDP unveiled a plan to create a budget low cost health insurance option in Switzerland, reported RTS. Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.comThe proposal, which includes lower cost ways of delivering healthcare, will be presented to parliament next month. Examples of ways to lower costs include limiting the choice of hospital and sharing hospital rooms with more patients or in less luxurious surroundings. The plan is a response to rising health...

This week, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published its predictions and ambitions for electric transport infrastructure. Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.comBy 2035, SFOE expects more than half of all passenger cars in Switzerland to be electric. This means the country has around 12 years to complete its charging infrastructure, it said. The SFOE study estimates there will be 2.8 million plug-in vehicles on Swiss roads by 2035, and by 2050 they should be the dominant type of...

This week, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) published its predictions and ambitions for electric transport infrastructure. Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.comBy 2035, SFOE expects more than half of all passenger cars in Switzerland to be electric. This means the country has around 12 years to complete its charging infrastructure, it said. The SFOE study estimates there will be 2.8 million plug-in vehicles on Swiss roads by 2035, and by 2050 they should be...

Last week, Switzerland’s federal parliament voted in favour of adding an annual public holiday to celebrate democracy. This week, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), said the extra day off would cost the economy CHF 350 million, reported RTS. Photo by Miraze Dewan on Pexels.comThe CHF 350 million sum was calculated by comparing the GDP in years when Christmas falls on a Sunday to years when it doesn’t. However, the cost doesn’t not fall evenly on all businesses. A...

In 2022, together, Switzerland’s cantons were expected to spend CHF 1.1 billion more than they brought in from taxes. Instead, they made a collective profit of CHF 3.5 billion, a positive delta of CHF 4.6 billion, reported RTS. Photo by Nate Hovee on Pexels.comSwitzerland collects tax at three levels: municipal, cantonal and federal. Cantonal taxes are typically the largest slice. This money covers the cost of key services such as health, education and welfare. In 2022, a total of 16...

Many Swiss politicians and members of the public remain angry about the recent rushed government deal to head off the potential collapse of Credit Suisse. This week a majority of the National Council, Switzerland’s federal parliament, voted in favour of measures to reduce the risk systemic big banks pose to taxpayers, reported RTS. © Pincasso | Dreamstime.comSpearheaded by Prisca Birrer-Heimo, a member of the Socialist Party in Luzern, the National Council voted in favour of two changes....

On 2 May 2023, Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office published its annual report on income, poverty and living conditions. In 2021, 448,000 people, 5.2% of the population, refrained from buying goods, services and social activities for financial reasons, something described as material and social deprivation. And Switzerland’s poverty rate was 8.7%. At the same time, the overall standard of living in Switzerland remains one of the highest in Europe. Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on...

Data published this week by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show no monthly inflation in April 2023. Photo by Michael Burrows on Pexels.comNo inflation in April shifted annual inflation from 2.9% in March to 2.6% in April 2023 as the monthly rise in prices in April 2022 fell out of the annual calculation to be replaced by zero monthly inflation in April 2023. Switzerland’s consumer price index (CPI) is an average and not everything remained at the same price level....

Switzerland’s strong currency and the widespread influence of the administration on many prices means the country has escaped much of the recent inflation afflicting many nations. But increasingly, inflation is entering the scene. This week, Swisscom announced it plans to change its general terms and conditions to make it possible to increase the price of existing contracts, reported RTS. © Marlon Trottmann | Dreamstime.comSwisscom recently warned customers that it was changing its terms...

Electric bike theft has tripled in Switzerland since 2019, reported RTS. Photo by alex on Pexels.comRecent police statistics show rising levels of theft across the country with rates rising most sharply in Basel and Geneva, two cities bordering on neighbouring countries. In 2022, 2,000 electric bikes were reported stolen, a figure double the number in 2021. Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, reported the greatest number of thefts, followed by Geneva and Basel. On a per capita...