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Tag Archives: Personal finance

Swiss franc highest against Euro since July 2015

On 19 November 2021, the Euro went below 1.05 Swiss francs, the lowest it has been since July 2015. © Skovalsky | Dreamstime.comThe Swiss franc is viewed as a safe haven currency and tends to rise when markets are bearish. However, this week the shift in exchange rate may have had more to do with the situation in Euro zone than a shift to safety. The Euro has recently weakened against a number of currencies including the Yen, US dollar and Pound. Currency traders appear to be concerned...

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Lights out – Geneva to cut lights to save electricity

This week, the government of the canton of Geneva changed a law to require non residential buildings, with some exceptions, to switch off their lights at night between 1am and 6am. Thursday’s parliamentary vote in favour of the move is expected to cut the canton’s electricity consumption by at least 1%. During parts of winter, Switzerland imports electricity to keep its lights on. In November 2021, Switzerland’s president warned the nation to prepare for electricity...

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Deadline for changing Swiss health insurance approaching

Once a year it is possible to (easily) change your health insurance in Switzerland. To do so you must cancel your existing policy by 30 November, a date fast approaching. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.comDeadline for annual changes is 30 NovemberInsurers must tell their members what next year’s premiums will be by 31 October. Members then have until 30 November to cancel their insurance contract for the following year. All basic insurance contracts offer this possibility. This means if...

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People working less in Switzerland

The amount of time spent working in Switzerland has been steadily declining since 2010, according to recent statistics from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). © Andrey Armyagov | Dreamstime.comIn 2020, an employed person worked an average of 1,495 hours a year in Switzerland, 7.2% or 13.8 days less than in 2010. To reveal the sharp drop in work hours in 2020 due to interruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the data is split into the periods between 2010-2019 and 2019-2020....

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Levelling up – the cantons giving and taking in 2022

In 2022, under the national financial equalisation mechanism, 6 cantons will transfer some of their tax revenue to Switzerland’s 20 other cantons. © Swisshippo | Dreamstime.comSwitzerland’s cantons have very different tax bases, costs and tax rates. Taxes in Switzerland are comprised of federal taxes, cantonal taxes and municipal taxes. Federal taxes are the same across all of Switzerland. However, cantonal and municipal taxes range significantly. Before 2008, all of the cantonal...

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Lights out – Geneva to cut lights to save electricity

This week, the government of the canton of Geneva changed a law to require non residential buildings, with some exceptions, to switch off their lights at night between 1am and 6am. Thursday’s parliamentary vote in favour of the move is expected to cut the canton’s electricity consumption by at least 1%. During parts of winter, Switzerland imports electricity to keep its lights on. In November 2021, Switzerland’s president warned the nation to prepare for electricity shortages. Lighting...

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Switzerland’s fastest and slowest growth cantons

This week, Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office published the latest cantonal GDP figures. Switzerland’s overall GDP growth in 2019 was 1.2%. However there were wide cantonal differences. © Eva Bocek | Dreamstime.comThe six fastest growing cantons in 2019 were Obwalden (+3.5%), Glarus (+3.2%), Zug (+2.7%), Basel-City (+2.6%), Luzern (+2.6%) and Valais (+2.5%). At the other end of the spectrum were the cantons of Basel-Landschaft (-0.1%), Nidwalden (-0.3%) and Zurich (-0.5%). To...

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Inflation continues to rise in Switzerland reaching 3-year high

At the end of October 2021, annual inflation in Switzerland reached 1.2% after rising 0.3% over the month, according to the Federal Statistical Office. This is the highest the annual rate has been since August 2018 when it reached 1.2%. © Cameracraft8 | Dreamstime.comThe price rises hitting Swiss pockets the hardest over the last 12 months include rent (+1.4%), heating (+12.0%) and transport (+7.3%). Rising fuel prices are behind the jumps in heating and transport costs. On the other...

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Swiss government deficit for 2021 revised down

© Ginasanders | Dreamstime.com The latest forecast for 2021 shows a deficit of CHF 14.8 billion, down CHF 2.6 billion from an earlier forecast shortfall of CHF 17.4 billion. The deficit is driven mainly by the extraordinary cost of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. The federal government expects to spend CHF 4.1 billion on vaccines (1.2) and tests (2.5) in 2021. However, the largest share of extra spending is on full and partial unemployment benefits (6.9)....

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Swiss government deficit for 2021 revised down

The latest forecast for 2021 shows a deficit of CHF 14.8 billion, down CHF 2.6 billion from an earlier forecast shortfall of CHF 17.4 billion. The deficit is driven mainly by the extraordinary cost of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. © Ginasanders | Dreamstime.comThe federal government expects to spend CHF 4.1 billion on vaccines (1.2) and tests (2.5) in 2021. However, the largest share of extra spending is on full and partial unemployment benefits (6.9). Another CHF 4.8 billion has...

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