Data published this week by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show no monthly inflation in April 2023.
No 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. Rising prices of air transport, package holidays, shoes and clothing were offset by falling prices of hotels, fruit and vegetables and heating oil.
Switzerland has avoided much of the inflation that has hit Europe and the rest of the world. A rising Swiss franc, something that reduces imported inflation, already highly priced locally produced food, the relatively low percentage of spending on energy, government rules around price setting – Switzerland has the highest share (30%) of regulated prices in Europe, and Switzerland’s central bank’s restraint on using quantitative easing (QE) to expand the supply of money – since 2015, Switzerland’s money supply (M3) has expanded by 22%. By comparison, in the US it has expanded by 77% and in the Eurozone by 52%, according to data published by Bloomberg.
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FSO press release (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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