On 20 September 2022, government forecasters announced downgraded expectations for GDP growth in Switzerland. A group of experts focused on predicting business cycles downgraded expected GDP growth to 2.0% in 2022 and to 1.1% in 2023. After a positive first half of the year the Swiss economy now faces a deteriorating outlook, said the group. […]
Swiss to vote on factory farming
On the 25 September 2022 the Swiss electorate will vote on the Factory Farming Initiative. Switzerland’s current legislation on the protection of animals is among the strictest in the world. The dignity and welfare of animals are both protected under the law. In 1992, Switzerland became the first nation to consider the dignity of animals […]
Swiss to vote on abolition of withholding tax and stamp duty
Currently, Switzerland levies a withholding tax of 35% cent on income from interest. People living in Switzerland can claim most of this tax back if they declare the interest in their tax return. However, foreign residents cannot. This means Swiss companies avoid issuing bonds from Switzerland. The federal government would like remove the withholding tax […]
Swiss government increases federal tax deductions to account for inflation
Now that inflation has returned, so has bracket creep, a situation where inflation pushes taxable income into higher tax brackets and reduces the tax busting value of deductions. To compensate, Switzerland’s federal government announced higher deductions and higher tax brackets this week. From the 2023 tax year couples with two wage earners will be able […]
Chart of the week: 11% of Swiss over 64 work
More and more people 65 and older are continuing to work across the OECD. The reasons for working beyond this particular point in life vary from person to person. Labour force participation among this age group across the OECD ranges from 2.4% (Romania) to 41.7% (Indonesia). In Switzerland, the rate was 11.1% in 2020, higher […]
Swiss F-35A fighter jet deal signed
On 19 September 2022, National Armaments Director Martin Sonderegger and the Swiss F-35A Program Manager Darko Savic signed the procurement contract at armasuisse in Bern. This means the deal to buy 36 US built Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter jets is contractually agreed. The aircraft will be delivered between 2027 and 2030 and will replace the […]
Swiss experts concerned by sharp rise in teenage vaping
Disposable “puffs” and the marketing of them via addictive social media platforms has led to sharp rise in the number of children vaping in Switzerland. A report by RTS outlines the concerns, shows how ineffective legal bans have been so far and how helpless authorities feel in the face of the phenomenon. The health risks […]
Swiss rate hike ends negative rates in Europe
On 22 September 2022, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) bumped its policy interest rate up by 0.75 percentage points to 0.5%. The move pushed the Swiss Franc down by around 2% against the euro. The recent hike brings Europe’s experiment with negative interest rates to a close. Only Japan now has a negative rate. The […]
Swiss housing market tightens further in 2022
Data published on 12 September 2022 show how the pool of available housing continues to shrink in Switzerland. On 1 June 2022, there were 61,496 empty dwellings in Switzerland, representing 1.31% of the total housing stock. The vacancy rate has fallen 0.23 percentage points compared to a year ago. There were 9,869 fewer empty dwellings […]
Roger Federer bows out of tennis competition
Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, announced on 15 September 2022 that he would retire after competing in the Laver Cup later this month. Only Spain’s Nadal (22 titles) and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (21 titles) have more men’s Grand Slam singles titles than 41-year-old Federer. Federer, who was born in Basel, […]
