13-year high in car sales in Switzerland in 2010
New cars in Switzerland: December 2011 registrations were all-time record
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Automobile Importers Association has come out firmly against Bern’s announcement last week that the autoroute sticker (road tax) price will jump from CHF40 to 100. Its argument, in aligning itself with truckers associations, is that some of the road tax money will be used to finance the country’s rail system starting in 2030, but the group also argues that the federal coffers have a reserve of 1.7 billion for roads and the tax should not be increased until this falls to CHF0.5 billion.
The rationale for the announced increase is to speed up road improvements that are needed as the number of cars on the road grows quickly. The importers association has just published figures showing that the past two years have seen a significant hike in the number of cars imported into Switzerland, which does not have a major car manufacturing company of its own.
The Swiss Automobile Importers Association notes that in 2011 the country imported and sold 318,958 and by comparison in 2010 the figure was 294,239 cars. The 2011 sales show a 10.6 percent increase in the past two years, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent in 2011 alone.
Last year was the first in a decade when more than 300,000 new cars were registered in Switzerland and the only previous years when sales were higher were 1988, 1989 and 1990. December 2011 is the best sales month that the importers association has ever recorded.
The association points out that new Swiss CO2 reduction regulations for cars go into effect in May 2012 and must be applied to all new cars registered as of 1 July 2012. The change aligns Switzerland with European Union regulations. The one exception is cars brough in from abroad that were registered abroad at least six months before they are imported.
Swiss central bank payouts down, with overvalued Swiss franc
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss cantons and communes won’t be seeing their budgets boosted this year by additional monies from the Swiss central bank, and a new agreement between the federal government and the bank should remove some of the uncertainty linked to this income.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Federal Finance Department said Monday 21 November they have reached a new agreement covering how the SNB’s profits are shared, for 2011-2015. The SNB during the next five-year period will be sharing CHF1 billion annually with the 26 cantons assuming the central bank has a profit after it complies with its reserves-building obligations.
“It remains unclear when the next distribution payment will take place, since this will depend on future developments in the financial markets,” the SNB said Monday 21 November.
The bank had no profits in 2010 and appears unlikely to do so in 2011 largely because of the amount it is spending to keep the overvalued Swiss franc from rising. The new agreement is designed to provide greater medium-term stability for cantons and the federation to plan, with a set amount per year, compared to the fluctuations of the most recent five-year period.
Should the central bank’s distribution reserves exceed CHF10 billion, the amount going to the cantons and federal government will be increased, with the finance department and the SNB deciding the amount.
Geneva's bankers face worrisome future in a shifting world
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The strong Swiss franc is back in the news 18-19 October, first with Swiss unions saying that they want the euro/Swiss franc exchange rate cap moved to CHF1.40, then the federal government announcing it will extend the period for reimbursement for partial unemployment and finally, the Geneva Financial Centre saying Swiss bankers may welll need to shift their expertise from private to institutional banking as they face a gloomy economic situation.
Bank profits will fall in 2011
Members of the Geneva Financial Center emphasized, speaking at their annual presentation for the media Wednesday, that a number of factors come together to create a worrisome scenario for the future. World markets are struggling, sovereign debt remains a major problem for a number of industrialized countries and the Swiss franc remains grossly overvalued. Profits at most banks will fall in 2011 as a result and belt-tightening will be in order, said Bernard Droux, president.
Partial unemployment due to franc: help for firms extended to 18 months
The Federal Council agreed Wednesday to extend from 12 to 18 months the period covered for companies to be reimbursed if they opt for partial unemployment as a solution in the face of the strong franc hurting their business.
The new measure becomes effective 1 January 2012.
Minimum wage should protect workers, say unions
Unia President Reno Ambrosetti Tuesday called for the Swiss franc to be capped at CHF1.40 rather than 1.20 against the euro, saying that 10,000 jobs are at stake. The major unions are calling for a minimum wage as fears grow that cheap labour will be imported at the expense of Swiss-based workers.
Young Swiss residents: not as likely to live to a ripe old age as their women friends
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss resident population in 2010 reached 7,866,500, an increase of 80,700, according to preliminary figures published by the Swiss Statistical Office in Neuchatel 28 April.
The 1 percent annual growth was comparable to the previous year’s. It includes the Swiss population as well as all resident foreigners except those with short-term permits, 56,600 and people seeking asylum, 5,600 persons.
“This statistic, greatly improved in quality, is part of the new, register-based population census system and provides more precise details than the previous Annual Population Statistics,” notes the SSO.
The federal government announced in December 2010 that it is moving to an annual census and will rely far more heavily than in the past on communal and cantonal population registers, which have been harmonizing the data they gather.
Switzerland now has 1,300 people over the age of 100 and figures show that this population has doubled every 10 years since 1950. The longer lifespan of women is clearly evident here, with women accounting for 1,100 of the people over age 100.
Number of foreigners continues to climb
The number of foreigners living permanently in Switzerland rose to 1,766,400 in 2010, an increase of 52,400, to comprise 22.5 percent of the population.
The percentage at the end of 2009 was 22 percent, but the increase is due in part to the way in which data is produced under the new statistics/census system, and to changing notions of population.
More people over 65 than under 20
The population under age 20 comprises 20.8 percent of the total and those age 65 or over, 1.3 million persons, are 16.9 percent. People of working age account for 62.2 percent of the Swiss population.
Boys outnumber girls slightly under age 20 but the male population declines gradually until the number of men and women is the same, in the 55-59 age group. Women then steadily outnumber men in a growing proportion: the ages 84-89 group has twice as many women as men.
The census included the following groups:
- Swiss whose permanent residence is Switzerland
- Foreigners with residence permits of at least 12 months (B, C and Foreign Affairs Department permits: international organization workers, diplomats and members of their families)
- Foreigners with a short-term residence permit (L) for a cumulative stay of at least 12 months
- asylum-seekers (F and N permits) whose total length of stay in Switzerland is at least 12 months.
Job of convincing Bern, which has the final word, could be tough, say cantonal authorities
Bridge preferred over tunnel, but both options kept
New autoroute proposal backed by canton Geneva for Lake Geneva crossing
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva is ready to push for an extension of the autoroute across the lake by 2030, arguing that it would ease city traffic by 30 percent and the ring road around Geneva by 12 percent.
The canton presented its project at a press conference Monday morning 11 April, the result of a three-year lake crossing feasibility study that cost CHF3.5 million.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge. It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
Two options are provided, one for a tunnel and the other for a bridge, but in both cases a tunnel under Choulex on the left bank, to preserve the Seymaz plain, is included. The bridge is currently considered the better option, from a safety and cost perspective. It’s too early, howevr, to exclude the option of a tunnel under the lake, say authorities. Further studies are needed that take into consideration new technologies that could be used for a tunnel.
City centre traffic would be reduced by 30,000 a day from current level
New bridge or tunnel to cross Lake Geneva would go from Vengeron, near Bellevue, on the left side of this photo, across to Bellerive, near Collonge (city centre to the right; photo taken from Chambesy)
Some 150,000 vehicles currently use the main routes through the city and across the Mont Blanc bridge. Cantonal projections show this figure rising to 170,000 by 2030.
If the new plan is adopted, traffic would fall to 120,000 vehicles a day through the city centre to cross the lake.
For people living near the two new autoroute junctions or further out and therefore using them, the lake crossing would be reduced in time by 35 percent, according to the report issued Monday.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge.
It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
The cost of the project is estimated at CHF3.1 billion for a bridge and CHF3.7b for a tunnel, without including various options to make improvements to city spaces and public transport as a result.
Bern’s current plan: reduce Geneva congestion by adding lanes to ring road autoroute
The arguments for and against a Lake Geneva crossing have raged in the canton for several years, but the biggest hurdle now could be the Swiss federal government, which has owned and is responsible for all national highways since 2008. Bern currently is considering plans to enlarge the ring road around the city in several places, from two to three lanes, to allow it to handle 115,000 vehicles a day. It can currently take a maximum load of 80,000.
Feasibility study report, in French, with annexes (including environmental impact)
Lausanne, Zurich bottom of list in annual public administration school review
Swiss cantons financial index, source, IDHEAP, 2010. Legend: combined index, financial health, financial management
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Neuchatel fare well in the annual review of 20 Swiss cities by Idheap, the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration in Lausanne. Zurich and Lausanne do less well, figuring at the bottom of the list.
The school, which publishes a number of studies and regular reports on Swiss public finances, presented the 2009 comparative report to journalists 24 November, although the report came out in late October. It measures the financial health of the Swiss confederation, the cantons and a selection of cities. It bases its ranking on two main factors: the extent to which expenses are covered by revenues and the quality of financial management.
Lausanne and Geneva, contrast in financial management
Federal budget for 2011 gets government approval
Government likely to weigh it down with VAT
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Swiss Federal Council wants to see a single value-added tax (VAT, called TVA in French) rate of 6.2 percent, it said Thursday 24 June. An earlier plan by the ruling council for a single rate VAT, a project dear to Hans-Rudolf Merz, finance minister, failed earlier when both houses of parliament made substantial changes to the proposal.
The new proposal, which now goes to parliamentary committees for consideration, would do away with 21 of the 29 exceptions to the tax, and would add or increase the rate of the VAT tax on medicine and medical treatments, educational training, food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Negative reaction from a number of consumer and industry groups has been swift and largely negative, although economiesuisse and hotelleriesuisse support the change, which Merz argues is necessary to boost the economy.
The complexity of the current VAT system carries a cost and simplifying it would provide 1 percent growth.
The Swiss government’s proposal comes just days after the British government increased the VAT to 20 percent.
2011 budget carries weight of extra VAT charge
The government also approved the 2011 federal budget plan Thursday: revenues will go up 3.8 percent and expenditures 3.3 percent, but the strong growth includes a short-term additional VAT charge.
Revenues would be 2.3 percent and expenditures 1.9 percent without it. The Swiss voted for the additional VAT in 2009, to cover the deficit of the federal disability insurance fund.
Links to other sites (Fre): economiesuisse, hotelleriesuisse, Le Temps, TSR and government press release on the proposed VAT change
Swiss-wide smoking ban - Photo Flickr Hance Gessell
Update 2 May A new Swiss federal smoking ban went into effect 1 May.
The new law seeks to bar smoking from all public places but allows it in some confined, closed areas. Cantons may enforce looser or stricter rules.
World Radio Switzerland carries a conversation featuring activists on both sides of the debate.
Preventive measures but also intervention options part of new Swiss regulatory system
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland will not create a new tax on banks unless there is a coordinated international effort to do so. The announcement Wednesday 28 April was the latest following a series of decisions made by the Swiss government this week concerning banks and the financial sector as a whole. The accent will instead be put on bank regulatory measures to strengthen the industry’s ability to withstand financial crises. “Such measures are more effective and efficient than fiscal measures. A financial activities tax should thus be considered [only] when a coordinated international procedure is emerging.”
The government notes that “massive budgetary problems” in several countries have led to calls for more taxes on the financial sector, but in Switzerland the bailout of UBS, the country’s largest bank, resulted in a gain of CHF1.2 million for the government, not a loss. The federal government does not currently need to generate additional tax revenues, it notes, and it considers tax solutions to be an unsuitable way to manage systemic risks in the finance industry.
Brady Dougan, Credit Suisse, will face investors' questions on compensation at the AGM 30 April 2010 in Zurich
Update 15:45 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government is taking three steps to curb what it calls “excessive salaries in banks and insurance companies.” It noted in a press release Wednesday afternoon 28 April that the measures were necessary because “inappropriate compensation systems with false incentives were jointly responsible for excessive risk taking, which led to the financial market crisis.” Swiss banks and insurance companies are key to the health of the Swiss economy, Bern noted, and excess pay packages are “objectionable particularly in the case of loss-making companies.”
The announcement comes just two days ahead of Credit Suisse’s annual meeting, where pay packages are on the agenda.
The three measures are:
- salary systems of financial institutions getting government assistance should be regulated for the duration of the support
- variable salary components above CHF2 million that depend on company profits should no longer be treated as personnel expenses for tax purposes, but as profit distribution (taxed as corporate profits)
- employee stock options should be taxed when they are exercised rather than when they are granted.
The last item will go directly to parliamentary committees for consideration in May 2010, but the other two require legislation to be drafted, which the Federal Department of Finance has been asked to do by autumn 2010.
Fun to drive to the beach, but how quiet is it? Anti-noise day: 28 April
Date correction, 18:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - More than half of all traffic in Switzerland is due to people traveling for leisure purposes – more than commuter traffic, according to the federal government. And it is noisy – too noisy.
Bern is marking Anti-noise day Wednesday 28 April by pledging to reinforce measures against noise created by traffic, whether on roads, rail or near airports, with the idea that we’re all heading off to relax, but some of us can’t because of the noise the rest of us make.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss citizens who put in time as volunteer firefighters will be treated on a par for tax purposes with the citizen militia and people who opt for civil service instead of the military. Daily allowances and pocket money up to CHF3,000 a year should be exempt from federal tax, the Swiss Federal Council said Wednesday morning 21 April in a recommendation to parliament. A ceiling was set to avoid abuses and professional firefighters and managers will continue to be taxed on their income. Bern expects the measure to cost CHF18-26 million in lost income.
Fire department operations are overseen by cantons, not the federal government in Switzerland, but communes generally have responsibility for fighting fires.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank expects to see a “large profit” of CHF10 billion for 2009, thanks to the rapid rise in the price of gold and currency fluctuations during the year. The valuation of the gold holdings of the central bank rose by CHF7.3 billion during the year, with the price of gold moving between about $800 and $1,200 an ounce (chart).
The bank’s foreign currency positions brought in another CHF2b.
The profits are shared in part with the federal and cantonal governments, some CHF2.5b.
Update 2, 22:45 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Years of arguing and debate over the need for the Lake Geneva region to rapidly develop its train service were brought to a close Monday 21 December with a framework agreement signed by the federal and cantonal governments and the CFF rail company. The agreement acknowledges that the Geneva-Lausanne area is one of the fastest-growing in Switzerland and states the intent of the signing parties to develop a rail network and service that match the rapidly changing need for public transport in the area.
Third and possibly fourth rail line planned
The two cantons have agreed to put up CHF312 million in pre-financing for several projects, designed to speed up the project. The 20-year plan, to 2030, will increase the frequency of trains to one every 15 minutes between Lausanne and Geneva. The number of seats will double by 2020. Several congestion points are targeted: Mies in Vaud and Chambésy in Geneva plus the freight passing line between Nyon and Coppet. The three-phase plan calls for the main lines and RER regional system to be improved first, then the third rail line between Renens and Allaman to be built during a second phase, when the system will also be extended in the area west of Geneva. Main train stations will be modernized.
The third phase will involve building a fourth rail line and improving public transport access to Geneva’s airport.
