Switzerland Today
Hello from Bern,
Where it’s December 1, and a colleague said today: “it was dark when I came to work this morning, and it’ll be dark when I leave again”. Is that depressing? Maybe! What’s it like where you are?
In the news: Economics ministry reveals the extent of Russian funds, frozen and non-frozen, in Switzerland.
- Since the invasion of Ukraine and the start of Western sanctions, Switzerland has frozen some CHF7.5 billion ($7.9 billion) of Russian funds, authorities said today. The figure is a slight increase on the CHF6.7 billion reported in July. The economics ministry also said that non-sanctioned Russian assets in the country, which were to be flagged by June 3 as part of a new reporting obligation, came to CHF46.1 billion.
- China has overtaken Switzerland as the world’s leading luxury goods hub. The “Global Powers of Luxury Goods” report by consultancy firm Deloitte, published on Thursday, said China’s share of the luxury market was 30% last year, while Switzerland’s was 27%. The change was largely driven by the Asian country’s jewellery market, the report said: the Swiss watch sector remains the driver of luxury sales in the Alpine nation.
- Hurricane Ian and other natural catastrophes caused an estimated $115 billion (CHF109 billion) of insured losses so far this year, well above the ten-year average of $81 billion, said Swiss Re today. Natural and man-made disasters did economic damage of $268 billion, of which $122 billion was covered by insurance, making 2022 one of the most expensive yet for the sector, the insurance firm said.
Swiss cities: still pricy, but the world might be slowly catching up.
One thing Swiss living abroad surely don’t miss are prices back in the homeland. This week, the Economist published its annual Cost of Living IndexExternal link, and again, Geneva and Zurich are near the top of it. Only five cities in the world are pricier than the Swiss pair: New York, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. That said, Zurich has been getting cheaper – or rather the others have been getting pricier – in the past few years. In 2021, the city was fourth in the Economist’s list. In 2020 it was joint top.
Overall, due to the war in Ukraine and “soaring” inflation, the cost of living has been going up everywhere, the Economist says, and is rising at its fastest rate for 20 years. American cities are particularly affected, as are Russian ones. And the outlook for next year? More inflation, higher costs, but a slower rise: the forecast is that global inflation will fall from an average of 9.4% this year to 6.5%. “Although still high, this should bring some relief to struggling households in the new year”, writes the Economist, to whom presumably not many “struggling households” subscribe.
Ministerial candidates: a godsend for empty newspaper pages.
A week ahead of the vote in parliament to elect two members of the seven-member government, it’s Bundesrat fever in Switzerland. In the print editions of today’s papers there are: two editorials, two long interviews with People’s Party candidate Hans-Ueli Vogt (pictured), three pieces about socialist candidate Elisabeth Baume-Schneider’s surprising appeal, one article about Albert Rösti’s (the other People’s Party candidate) lobbyist side-jobs, a left-wing hit piece on Vogt, a right-wing praise of Eva Herzog (the other socialist candidate), etc. etc.
What does this all tell us? Firstly, the Swiss seem to like dissecting each and every (political) feature of prospective ministers – perhaps even more so than in some other countries. Is it because the ministers serve such long terms, and there are only seven of them? Secondly, the candidates have a lot of energy! Three of the four, as well as the endless interviews, are also currently sitting for the winter parliament session. Where do they find the time? And thirdly, the level of fuss here seems directly proportionate to the lack of it elsewhere – there hasn’t been a peep of interest by foreign media in all this. Will it be any different next Wednesday?
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
