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Tag Archives: Politics

High Swiss rent – little support for rent controls

Rents have risen significantly in Switzerland, something potentially affecting the 61% of the population living in rented accommodation. A survey by Deloitte places rent control at the bottom of a list of solutions. Photo by ILOVESwitzerland on Pexels.comThe survey, which questioned 1,900 people across Switzerland, found rent controls to be the least preferred solution to dealing with rising rents – only 4% of those with an opinion chose this option. Cities such as Berlin have introduced...

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Swiss government announces first spending cuts

Like many governments, Switzerland’s federal government is spending more than it collects in taxes and other revenues. However, a constitutional mechanism known as the debt brake limits how much the government can overspend. This means, in the absence of significant economic growth or higher tax rates, the government must cut spending. This week it outlined cuts that would shave off CHF 2 billion of spending, reported RTS. Bern © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comThe debt brake is designed to...

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Switzerland marks start of China’s ‘high-level exchange’ with Europe

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is visiting Switzerland this week. The official state visit by China’s second highest ranking official signals a renewal in Sino-Swiss ties and the kick-off of his “high-level exchange” with Europe. Here’s what you need to know about official Swiss-Chinese relations. Born in London, Simon is a multimedia journalist who has worked for www.swissinfo.ch since 2006. He speaks French, German and Spanish and focuses on science, technology and...

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Two very different votes on Swiss pensions set for March

This week, the referendum roster was announced for 3 March 2023. There will two votes on Switzerland’s state pension system. One aims to tackle the impending funding crisis by extending the retirement age, and the other aims to alleviate old age poverty by increasing payments without a plan to pay for it. Photo by Monica Silvestre on Pexels.comThe first would raise the retirement age by one year to 66 by 2032 and then link it to life expectancy beyond that date. If life expectancy rises...

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Inflation and poverty in Switzerland

This week, SRF held a discussion on poverty in Switzerland. Philipp Frei, Managing Director of the Swiss Budget Consulting Association, an organisation that helps people budget, voiced concern over shrinking disposable incomes. While economic historian Tobias Straumann spoke of the progress Switzerland has made on welfare and poverty’s often transient nature. Photo by Ahsanjaya on Pexels.comIn 2021, Switzerland’s poverty line was set at CHF 3,989 (US$ 4,650) a month for a family of four...

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2024 outlook: Gold Shines Bright in the Gathering Storm

The year 2024 is poised to be a critical period for the global economy and it already appears to be fraught with economic and geopolitical challenges, casting a dark shadow over the global landscape. Signs of a looming economic downturn are becoming increasingly evident and the many challenges we faced over the past year will certainly remain with us for many months to come. Economic and monetary landscape  Central bankers in most advanced economies have already all but...

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2024 outlook: Gold Shines Bright in the Gathering Storm

The year 2024 is poised to be a critical period for the global economy and it already appears to be fraught with economic and geopolitical challenges, casting a dark shadow over the global landscape. Signs of a looming economic downturn are becoming increasingly evident and the many challenges we faced over the past year will certainly remain with us for many months to come. Economic and monetary landscape  Central bankers in most advanced economies...

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2023: A year in review

After the catastrophic covid crisis of 2020 and 2021, the extremely impactful and consequential Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many hoped that 2023 would break this terrible bad spell and finally present us all with some hope, economically, geopolitically, socially, technologically. Unfortunately, it only offered further reasons for serious concerns on all these fronts.  Economically, even though the official inflation rate followed a downward...

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