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Industry warn aid package may be needed

A new government rescue package will be necessary if the economic situation worsens, the umbrella group for Swiss trade and industry has said.

Gerold Bührer, head of the Swiss Business Federation, economiesuisse, told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that there was a 50 per cent chance that the government would have to launch another rescue package.

Such measures would need to be timely and for a limited duration, he noted.

The challenges ahead were greater than had been foreseen, and after the financial industry’s “annus horribilis”, Swiss industry would be the next to suffer.

The government may also need to be more flexible about increasing its debt.

“Above and beyond these economic measures, the absolute priority should be to improve competitiveness in the long term,” he said.

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