Swiss Economy May Not Avoid Recession, Say Experts
It looks as if tax hikes
and belt tightening may be the order of the day in Switzerland for the New Year,
as economists have warned that the country's economy is teetering on a knife
edge, and a fall into recession may be unavoidable. This time last year the
Swiss economy experienced almost unheard of growth rates of around 3%, but the
global economic downturn and the events of September 11th have taken their toll.
On Thursday, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) announced that
in the third quarter of this year, GDP had grown by just 0.1% compared with
the previous three months. According to Swiss analysts,
the scale of this year's downturn has taken the country by surprise, and left
many disillusioned with European monetary union. Speaking on Monday to Swissinfo,
Marcus Allenspach, an economist at Cantrade private bank explained: 'The biggest frustration
is that Europe has shown that it is not immune to the United States slowdown,'
he observed. 'With European monetary union, it was pretended that Europe was
now a bloc of its own with the result that its economic course would be the
result of developments in Europe alone.' According to the economists,
consumers are keeping the Swiss economy's head above water for the moment, but
it is doubtful whether this will continue into 2002, especially if the situation
continues to weaken. .
|
|
IMPORTANT NOTICE: TAX-NEWS.COM has taken reasonable care in sourcing and presenting the information contained on this site, but accepts no responsibility for any financial or other loss or damage that may result from its use. In particular, users of the site are advised to take appropriate professional advice before committing themselves to involvement in offshore jurisdictions, offshore trusts or offshore investments. All materials on this site copyright TAX-NEWS.COM 1999 to 2007. Contact us for further information.