Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

The Swiss passport remains one of the world’s most powerful travel documents, ranking ninth globally in the latest Passport Reports index. Swiss citizens can travel visa-free to 119 destinations. Another 54 allow entry with a visa on arrival or an electronic travel authorisation. Only 25 destinations require Swiss travellers to obtain a visa in advance. Travel is virtually unrestricted across Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. Swiss passport holders have access to 93% of destinations in Oceania and 72.2% in Africa. Switzerland fares less well within Europe. It ranks 13th among 47 countries, behind several EU members, including Germany and…

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has left its policy rate unchanged at zero, the lowest policy rate in the world. Inflation remains subdued. Consumer prices rose by 0.8% in August, the highest rate in two years but still comfortably within the SNB’s definition of price stability, which covers inflation of between zero and 2%. The central bank expects inflation to rise to 1.2% in the fourth quarter, largely because of higher oil prices, before easing again during 2027. Its latest forecast puts average annual inflation at between 0.7% and 0.8% in 2026, 2027 and 2028, before edging up to as…

A clear majority of Swiss voters oppose both initiatives due to be put to a referendum on September 27, according to the second poll conducted by gfs.bern for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). More than 60% now say they intend to reject the neutrality and food-security proposals. Support for the two initiatives has fallen sharply since the first survey in early August. If the vote had been held in early September, 63% would have rejected the “Safeguard Swiss Neutrality” initiative, up nine percentage points. Support fell by eight points, to 34%. The initiative, launched by the group Pro Suisse, would…

Diesel prices in Switzerland have risen to a record high. A litre now costs an average of CHF 2.41 nationwide, according to the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS), surpassing the previous peak reached in 2022. Since the begining of the year the price has risen 35% from CHF 1.78 a litre. Petrol prices are also climbing. A litre of unleaded 95 costs an average of CHF 2.10, five centimes more than a week ago. That remains below the 2022 record of CHF 2.31. Since the begining of the year the price has risen 27% from CHF 1.65 a litre. The TCS…

Revolut already has 1.3m customers in Switzerland. Now it wants a Swiss banking licence. Why? A new force may soon emerge in Swiss banking—though it is hardly a newcomer. Revolut, a British fintech firm, already has 1.3m customers in Switzerland. The firm has applied to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) for a banking licence. For now, many Swiss customers use Revolut as a secondary account, particularly when travelling or spending abroad, where its fees are often well below those of traditional banks. A Swiss licence could help Revolut turn those occasional users into primary customers. It would bolster…

Switzerland travelled by train more than ever in 2025. Passengers covered almost 24bn passenger-kilometres, a third consecutive annual record, according to federal data. That was 3% more than in 2024 and confirms the recovery in rail travel since its sharp fall during the covid-19 pandemic. The increase was driven mainly by more journeys rather than longer trips. Passengers made 675m rail trips in 2025, 4% more than a year earlier. The average distance travelled per journey rose by about 1%. Rail use thus grew much faster than the population. Switzerland’s population increased by almost 1% between 2024 and 2025, to…

Switzerland’s housing stock is becoming greener. In 2025 one in four residential buildings was equipped with a heat pump, six times the share in 2000. Among homes built over the past decade, the technology is already dominant: three-quarters use one. Yet oil and gas still heat half of the country’s 1.8m residential buildings. The figures, published by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office, offer a snapshot of a housing system in transition. Oil remains Switzerland’s most common source of residential heating, used in 33% of buildings. But its share has been falling steadily for four decades. Gas accounts for another 17%, though…

Switzerland still has one of the stronger school systems in the rich world. Its 15-year-olds score above the OECD average in PISA. But the ranking conceals a less reassuring trend: Swiss pupils are getting worse at some of the basic things schools are meant to teach. In the latest results Switzerland scored 499 points in mathematics and 470 in reading, down by about 4% from 521 and 492 respectively in 2015. Science has held up better, slipping only from 503 to 501. In a new test of model-based problem-solving, which assesses pupils’ ability to use digital tools to analyse data…

Switzerland’s housing market tightened further in 2026 to reach a vacancy rate below 1% for the first time since 2013. On June 1st, 45,493 homes stood empty, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), equivalent to 0.93% of the housing stock. That was 0.07 percentage points lower than a year earlier. The number of vacant homes fell by 2,962, or 6.1%. It was the sixth consecutive annual decline in the vacancy rate, which has fallen by 0.79 percentage points since 2021. The squeeze has coincided with a sharp rise in rents and a marked shift in the ownership of rental…

Switzerland may one day charge employers an “entry fee” for recruiting workers from the European Union. The idea, long dismissed as anti-business and potentially incompatible with the country’s agreements with Brussels, is gaining support in Parliament. The Federal Council now backs it too. The proposal forms part of Parliament’s debate over Switzerland’s new package of agreements with the EU. It would not create a permanent immigration tax. Instead, the levy could be imposed only if immigration from the EU rose far enough for Switzerland to activate a new safeguard clause. That clause is designed to give Switzerland more room to…