Switzerland’s account surplus fell to CHF10 billion in fourth quarter 2024

Stable balance of payments surplus in 2024 Keystone-SDA

Switzerland’s balance of payments showed a surplus of CHF42 billion ($48 billion) in 2024, as in the previous year, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Over the last three months of last year, however, the balance declined.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The balance of trade in goods remained stable at CHF112 billion from one year to the next. This stability was the result of an increase in the balance of trade in goods in the strict sense following a rise in exports of chemical and pharmaceutical products, and a fall in the surplus recorded in transit trade, noted the SNB in a statement published on Monday.

The deficits recorded in trade in services and in primary income showed a variation of the same magnitude but in the opposite direction: the rise in the former was offset by the fall in the latter.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the current account showed a surplus of CHF10 billion, CHF4 billion less than a year earlier. This decline was mainly due to the increase in the deficit recorded in trade in services, primary income and secondary income. Trade in goods, on the other hand, showed a surplus which increased over the year.

Translated from French by DeepL/jdp

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].