GDP Increases In Switzerland In Q2

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

03 September 2008

Despite a slight slowdown since the start of the year, the Swiss economy has continued to expand in Q2 2008, figures released by the government on Tuesday have confirmed.

According to the data published this week, real GDP was up 0.4% compared to the previous quarter - growth which was mainly driven by household expenditure and foreign trade.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, real GDP in Q2 2008 rose by 2.3%.

Total investments dropped marginally by 0.7%, with construction investments falling by 0.3% and investments in fixed assets and software falling by 0.9%.

However, not all areas of investment in fixed assets and software were down: investments in processed metals and machine tools, in radio, television and telecommunications and software all recorded growth.

Exports of goods and services increased by a substantial 3.6%, with goods exports rising sharply by 4.5% and service exports rising more slowly by 1.3%. Imports of goods and services also posted a rise of 3.8%, with goods imports up by 4.5% and service imports up by 0.6%.

The Swiss authorities went on to reveal that in October 2008, SECO (the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) will, for the first time, publish quarterly figures for the GDP sectors on the income side and the gross national income for the period from 1990 to 2008 (second quarter).

In future, quarterly figures for GDP on the income side will be published at the latest 14 days following publication of the quarterly figures for the production and expenditure approaches, the government concluded by revealing.

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