Swiss financial controllers warn against unnecessary subsidies
Almost 60% of government expenditure consists of subsidies to cantons, cities, businesses and private households.
However, the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) says not all of them are economical and suitable by a long shot and recommends action be taken.
According to the SFAO report published on Monday, the government spent CHF48.5 billion ($53.6 billion) on subsidies in 2022 – 59.7% of its total expenditure.
The SFAO said statutory conditions were not always sufficiently met in practice, with a lot of potential for improvement, both in the design and in the implementation and impact of subsidies. It said there were cases in which public funds were used to subsidise activities that could manage without.
The Federal Finance Administration (FFA) said in a statement it wanted to implement the necessary measures soon and that it was about raising awareness of the efficiency of financial grants at public offices.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp
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