Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Here are the latest news and updates from Switzerland on Wednesday.

Keystone / Dominic Favre

In the news: money for trains, (slightly) dampened GDP outlook, and Toblerone travels.

• The government has presented plans for an upgrade of the country’s rail network, including an additional Alpine tunnel. About CHF720 million ($745 million) has been set aside to upgrade the Lötschberg base tunnel and other regional projects near Zurich and Geneva in the next decade. “The upgrade will allow to increase capacities and ensure the stability of the services,” Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said on Wednesday.
• The KOF Economic Institute has revised downwards its growth forecast for Switzerland for this year and next. Due largely to the effects of the war in Ukraine, the institute now reckons Swiss GDP will rise 2.7% (rather than 2.8%) in 2022 and by 1.6% in 2023. As for the inflation rate, the economists say it will remain relatively low in Switzerland compared with other countries: 2.6% this year and 1.5% in 2023 – down 0.2% from the March forecast.
• The iconic Toblerone will no longer be 100% made in Switzerland as of next year, SRF public radio reported todayExternal link. From the end of 2023, the famous triangular-shaped chocolate will also be made in a factory in Slovakia – and not exclusively in Bern, which has been its sole home for the past 100 years. The chocolate is owned and made by the American Mondelez group.

Keystone/Georgios Kefalas

Currency exchange: Ukrainian refugees soon to be flush with cash?

Following a similar EU recommendation, Swiss authorities today decided that Ukrainian refugees will be able to exchange a certain amount of their local cash into Swiss francs. Selected branches of Switzerland’s two major banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, will start providing the service – which was not possible up to now – as of next Monday. Good news for the almost 56,000 Ukrainians who have fled to Switzerland since February? It depends what expenses they have in mind: the maximum cap on exchanges is 10,000 hryvnia per person – the equivalent of CHF300 ($310.50). This will get you around one-and-a-half pairs of Nike shoes, one month’s worth of Swiss health insurance, or (now that the free rail travel for Ukrainians has ended) a total of three adult return train trips from Bern to Zurich.

Keystone / Riccardo Dalle Luche

Open the tap! Italy calls on Swiss reservoirs for help.

After a stifling few days, the worst of the heat in Switzerland is behind us: clouds, rain, and (somewhat) lower temperatures have arrived. But in northern Italy, the effects of heat and drought are still alarming. SRF reports todayExternal link that the Po river is at its lowest level in 70 years, which could mean catastrophe for crops and livestock. The Italians are thus calling on Switzerland, Europe’s water tap, for help. They want the Swiss to open up their Alpine reservoirs to raise the water levels in Lago Maggiore, the lake on the Swiss-Italian border which in turn feeds into the Po. Will Switzerland oblige? SRF says the authorities are reluctant, and have claimed that there’s not enough water this side of the border either; the Lago Maggiore itself is also at historically low levels. In Italy, however, authorities only see two options: either it starts raining heavily, and soon, or else the Swiss send some water.