Economiesuisse sees economy getting weaker

The Swiss business federation, economiesuisse, expects the Swiss economy to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2011, slowing to 1.7 per cent the following year.

The federation says that the economy is nevertheless holding its own in a difficult world economic context.

Economiesuisse said in its latest outlook on Thursday that Switzerland’s recovery from the financial crisis was flattening.

Exports are developing positively as a result of demand from new markets and industrialised countries like Germany, but the strong franc will be a problem in the long-term, it said. The federation thus called for the longer-term deindustrialisation of Switzerland.

On the positive side, the domestic market is robust and inflation should stay low for this and the next year.

Economiesuisse’s prognoses match those of the Swiss government and the Swiss National Bank and BAK Basel Economics, which predicted a 2.2 per cent Gross Domestic Product increase on Wednesday. But they are well below the Kof Swiss Economic Institute’s forecast of 2.8 per cent  for 2011.