Swiss Economy To Log Below Average Growth In 2024: SECO

(RTTNews) - The Swiss economy is set to undergo a significantly below-average growth this year as low capacity utilization in industrial output and high financing costs are set to damp investments, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said Monday. Although the economic growth outlook for 2024 was raised to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent, this would mean that the Swiss economy is growing at a significantly below-average rate, the expert group of the SECO said.

Exports are forecast to provide some degree of support to economic growth. Moreover, a rise in employment and a fairly stable inflation rate would boost private consumption, the SECO said.

With the gradual global economic recovery, growth is expected to normalize to 1.7 percent in 2025, the agency added. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 2.4 percent in 2024 and 2.6 percent in 2025. Both figures were revised up by one percentage point.

Further, inflation is seen easing to 1.4 percent in 2024, which was slightly below the previous forecast of 1.5 percent. The projection for next year was retained at 1.1 percent.

The think tank cited armed conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in particular pose geopolitical risks. In addition, developments in Germany and China pose risks to the global economy and Swiss foreign trade, the expert group observed.