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Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Helena Bachmann
Helena Bachmann - [email protected]
Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Despite heavy rains of the past days, summer will make a comeback next week. Photo by chi liu on Unsplash

Still no relief on the drought front, the number of foreigners is rising in Switzerland, and other news in our roundup this Friday.

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Heavy rains not a cure for drought

The much-awaited rain, which has hit Switzerland in the past two days, has not only failed to counteract the drought, but is also posing new risks.  

The reason is that the soil is so dry that it simply can’t absorb water, according to Peter Molnar, water resource management expert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

The drainage system is no longer able to evacuate all the accumulated rainwater, which then “runs off the surface and can cause flooding”, he explained.

While this has not yet happened in Switzerland, the risk still exists, Molnar added

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And this is what’s ahead on the weather front…

Heavy rains will continue to fall on certain regions of central and eastern Switzerland through Saturday, according to Vincent Devantay, meteorologist at MeteoNews.

From Sunday, however, the sun will be back, bringing will it temperatures ranging from 28C and 30C.

This is something to look forward to: "temperatures will remain high for about 10 days but will not create a new heatwave”, Devantay said.

More foreigners are working in Switzerland

While the number of employed Swiss nationals rose by only 0.1 percent between June 2021 and June 2022, the number of foreigners went up by 4.8 percent in the same period.

The new data from the Federal Statistical Office shows that the biggest increase (12.6 percent) has been among holders of short-term L permits, followed by cross-border G permit holders (6 percent), B permits (5.6 percent), and 2.7 percent for C-permit holders.

This development “reflects a strongly job market-oriented immigration to Switzerland", the government said in a press release.

“This is due to the economic growth observed after the lifting of pandemic-related measures and the resulting increase in labour demand”.

READ MORE: How foreigners are changing Switzerland
 

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Swiss mortgages are becoming significantly cheaper again

There is some good news for prospective property buyers: while long-term mortgages in Switzerland have gone up substantially since the beginning of the year, they are now beginning to drop.

Why is this?

“Swiss capital market interest rates are strongly linked to those in the United States, where recession fears have emerged recently, driving the rates down”, said Stefan Meyner, head of mortgage research at MoneyPark.

READ MORE: Where to find property in Switzerland for under CHF 500k

 

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