Today two notable organisations provide mountain rescue services in Switzerland. Prior to 1946 mountain air rescue did not exist. Air Glacier SA is based in Sion in Valais, and Swiss Air-Rescue Rega in Zurich. Rega has twelve operational bases around Switzerland but does not operate in Valais. In Valais, Rega uses the services of Air […]
Money for nothing – Swiss government gets paid to borrow
Imagine borrowing CHF 105,500 but only having to repay CHF 100,000 in 20 years time, including interest. You’d get an interest free loan plus an extra CHF 5,500 to keep. This is what the Swiss federal government will do on 20 December 2019, except it will borrow CHF 196.6 million by issuing zero interest bonds […]
2020 Swiss highway stickers on sale
Next year’s Swiss highway sticker, or vignette, is now on sale. Every year it changes colour. This year it’s red. The last time it was this colour was in 2014. Last year, stiffer penalties of up to 3 years in prison were introduced for vignette fraud. The amount lost from various forms of cheating is estimated to […]
Bernese Young Boys get their Wankdorf back
Sometimes things get lost in translation. A recent headline in German-speaking Switzerland shows how translation can go awry. An article published by SRF, Switzerland’s broadcaster, bears the headline “Die Berner Young Boys erhalten ihr Wankdorf zurück“. This translates to “Bernese Young Boys get their Wankdorf back”. Wankdorf – “dorf” is close the English word village […]
Another month of falling prices in Switzerland
Swiss prices fell by 0.1% in November 2019, the sixth time in 12 months. But not everything is cheaper. Prices fell in December 2018 (-0.3%), January 2019 (-0.3), July (-0.5), September (-0.1), October (-0.2%) and November 2019 (-0.1). When combined with the low inflation experienced in the other 6 months the 12-month price drop is […]
New cross-border trains launching soon in Geneva region
A new international train network, known as the Léman Express, is set to launch on 15 December 2019. Eight years in the making, the new rail network connects the Swiss cantons of Vaud and Geneva with neighbouring France. 40 new trains running on 6 new train lines will link 45 train stations across the region. Swiss […]
Lausanne ranked world’s best small city
Lausanne grabs top spot in the global affairs and lifestyle magazine Monocle’s debut ranking of the world’s best small cities. To qualify, a city needs to be home to roughly 200,000 people. This provides a sweet spot between social and cultural diversity and quaintness, according to the publisher. Lausanne has a population of 140,000. Once […]
Some Swiss import duties could be axed
Swiss import duties on a number of industrial products might disappear if a plan put forward by Guy Parmelin, Switzerland’s economic’s minister, is approved by the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, according to RTS. The changes are expected to benefit businesses and consumers by around CHF 860 million a year. On the other hand, the government […]
Staff suspected of stealing from passenger luggage at Geneva airport
Two people who work for the company Dnata at Geneva airport have been arrested, according the newspaper Le Temps. The individuals are suspected of stealing objects from passenger luggage over the last few months, possibly years. Last Monday, airport police undertook an unannounced search of the airport’s baggage handlers. During the search two Dnata staff […]
Switzerland’s skilled worker shortage worsens
At 30 September 2019, Switzerland had 79,000 job vacancies and 225,000 unemployed workers. This combination of unemployment and job vacancies can largely be explained by two things. The first is frictional unemployment, the period spent in between jobs. This typically increases when there is a lot of job changing. The second is a skills mismatch. […]
