Author: switzerlandtimes.ch

This week, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced a record quarterly profit for the first quarter of 2024. The result was largely predicted after the SNB made a surprise interest rate cut, which led to a weaker Swiss Franc. Switzerland’s central bank is unusual. It is privately owned (mainly by a German citizen) but distributes much of its profit to the nation’s cantons and federal government. This feature adds to the politicisation of monetary policy in Switzerland as it increases the likelihood voters and politicians view the bank primarily as a cash generator rather than the custodian of a stable…

The severe drop in temperatures across Switzerland last week froze large areas of wine grape vines. Parts of Vaud and Geneva have been particularly hard hit, reported RTS. Wine growers now fear for their coming grape harvest. While it is too soon to quantify potential harvest damage, one farmer in the canton of Geneva reported three quarters of her vines completely freezing. However, the true level of damage will only be clear once the fruit begins to develop. In any case the wine grower expects her harvest to be half of what it would have been. 2017 was a similarly…

An idea put forward by the FDP/PLR to have certain rejected asylum seekers sent to a country other than the one they came from found support in a parliamentary commission this week, reported SRF. The comission voted 14 to 11 in favour of the idea. Normally, asylum seekers who have their applications rejected are returned to their home country. However, the nation of Eritrea will not accept its own citizens back unless they return voluntarily, leaving open the question of where to send those unwilling to return. The idea put forward by the FDP/PLR would be to arrange to have…

Switzerland has three main languages, and liguistic divides run through some cities such as Biel/Biennes and Freiburg/Fribourg. In Swiss cities in general, French is on the rise. In bilingual cities where some residents speak French at home and others German, French is gaining ground fast, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). There are several reasons for this. Switzerland is a trilingual nation, quadrilingual if the rarely spoken language of Romanche is included. However, many Swiss are monolingual, speaking only their mother tongue. In addition, many of those who are bilingual are likely to speak English alongside their…

For decades, the finance industry has been on a quest to realize its goal of making banks accessible to all. But unfortunately, this remains to be elusive, with Fast Company reporting that 1.5 billion people worldwide are still unbanked based on the latest 2024 data. In the US alone, at least 6 million people don’t have access to any form of financial service. To be “banked” means to have access to financial services offered by banks and financial institutions. On the other hand, the “unbanked” and “underbanked” may have cash, but they don’t have the means to join the financial…

Electricity production in Switzerland rose by 13.5% in 2023, reaching a new record of 72.1 billion kWh, reported the Federal Office of Electricity (FOE). Production from both hydropower plants (+21.7%) and nuclear plants (+1%) was higher. Hydro (56.6%) and nuclear (32.4%) made up 89% of the total. The remaining 11% came from thermal and renewable sources. The boost in production allowed Switzerland to export more electricity than it consumed. Imports of 27.5 billion kWh were offset by exports of 33.9 billion kWh, netting 6.4 billion kWh. This represents a significant turn around from 2022 when Switzerland imported 3.4 billion kWh more electricity…

According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), nearly 35,000 new vehicles were put into circulation across Switzerland in March 2024. And while this figure is 5% below the number in March 2023, the size of private vehicles rose, a now well established trend. The only group of private vehicles rising in number was non-plug-in hybrids (+7%). The numbers of new plug-in hybrids (-5%), diesel (-6%) and petrol (-17%) car registrations fell. Those for electric vehicles remained flat. Over the last few years, the size of newly registered vehicles has been growing by 1 cm or 2 cm every year, especially…

The first Ukrainian refugees arrived in Switzerland in early 2022. Roughly two years on only 23% are working. This week, the federal government said it wants to get this percentage to 40% by the end of the year, reported SRF. The benefits of integrating refugees into the workforce are clear. But finding work is not always easy. Some Swiss cantons have acheived higher rates than others. The rates tend to follow rates of employment in the wider economy. The French- and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland, which have lower rates of employment, also have lower rates of employment among Ukrainian refugees.…

This week, a group calling themselves the Pro Switzerland Group, announced it had collected 133,000 signatures, a number comfortably above the 100,000 needed to call a referendum, reported SRF. The group wants to ask voters whether they want the nation’s neutrality to be strictly set out in Switzerland’s constitution. The initiative calls for a constitutional definition of neutrality that prevents Switzerland joining any military or defence alliance or imposing sanctions on belligerent states. According to the initiative’s text, Switzerland would not be allowed to join any military or defence alliance unless Switzerland is directly attacked. Switzerland would not be able…

This week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the Swiss government violated the Human Rights Convention on climate change in a case brought by a climate organisation and four Swiss women claiming to be victims of insufficiently mitigated climate change. Eight years ago, a group of Swiss senior citizens, known as the Climate Seniors, filed a lawsuit against the federal government for failing to tackle climate change. On Tuesday, the ECHR in Strasbourg decided that the Swiss government’s lack action against climate change violated the human rights of the group of senior citizens who were suing. More specifically,…