Advertisement

Swiss economy predicted to grow 3% by end of year

The Local
The Local - [email protected]
Swiss economy predicted to grow 3% by end of year
VadimVasenin/Depositphotos"

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast Switzerland’s economy will grow by 3% by the end of 2018.

Advertisement

This comes after the IMF, in April this year, predicted that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would rise by 2.3%.

The Swiss figures go against the current global economic growth trend, which the IMF has reduced from its previous estimate of 3.9% to 3.7% for 2018 and 2019.

On-going concerns over Brexit negotiations and potential trade-wars involving the USA, as well as an overall slower than expected growth within the European Union are cited as the main reasons for the more negative global calculations.

Advertisement

Last month, the Swiss government, raised its GDP forecast for 2018 to 2.9% from 2.4% and, earlier this year, it was announced that Swiss exports had matched and surpassed their recent growth. Exports for 2018's second quarter totalled 55.7 billion francs (€47.8 billion), representing a new quarterly record.

READ MORE: Swiss exports hit new quarterly record

Pharmaceuticals, machinery, precision instruments and watchmaking were some of the sectors that performed particularly well. With record exports to China, the USA and Germany all helping grow the overall value of Swiss exports by 4.8 billion Swiss francs (€4.1 billion) since the first quarter of 2017.

Despite some cause for positivity however, the IMF has also suggested Switzerland’s economy may slow down next year. This would be in keeping with a fall in global GDP growth, which the IMF has predicted to fall from 2& to 1.8% in 2019.

READ MORE: Switzerland exchanges financial accounts data with international partners for first time

Switzerland joined the IMF in 1992. More information on this article can be found on the SRF website.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also