Swiss economy continued to slow in Q3

Switzerland’s economic growth slowed considerably in the third quarter as the strong franc affected export margins, a survey by UBS has found.

But the robust domestic economy and continued demand from developing countries should prevent the Swiss economy from sliding into recession in 2012.

The UBS Business Cycle Indicator is based on a survey of industrial companies. Released on Wednesday, the latest indicator results found gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 1.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2011, down from a record high of 3.3 per cent in the same quarter a year earlier.

The bank said it expects GDP growth to slow further to one per cent during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Figures released by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) show GDP growth slowed to 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent in the first and second quarters of 2011 respectively. Seco has not released official figures for the third quarter.

“In industry, the economic situation deteriorated significantly in the third  quarter,” UBS said in a statement. “New orders from abroad slipped into negative territory for the first time since the first quarter of last year, while domestic demand for industrial goods stagnated.”

However, UBS said that the solid domestic economy, particularly consumption, should help the Swiss economy in general outperform other western industrialised economies and compensate for potential losses in exports.