Swiss government lowers 2019 growth and inflation forecasts

Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Federal Government’s Expert Group released its winter 2018/2019 economic forecasts that pointed to weakening Swiss economy, mainly due to weak domestic demand.

Key Highlights:

2018 GDP growth seen at 2.6% (previously 2.9%)

2019 GDP growth seen at 1.5% (previously 2.0%)

2020 GDP growth seen at 1.7%

2018 inflation seen at 1.0% (previously 1.0%)

2019 inflation seen at 0.5% (previously 0.8%)

2020 inflation seen at 0.7%

Negative risks clearly predominate for the global economy at present.

Political uncertainty remains high in Europe. In particular, it remains unclear what the relationship between the EU and UK will look like once Brexit comes into force in late March 2019.

Finally, there is a positive risk that the international and Swiss economies will pick up again, supported, for example, by the recent fall in oil prices.switzer