As national restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic crisis were progressively lifted in 2021, Switzerland experienced positive economic growth throughout the year. However, the successive waves of the pandemic in the second part of 2021 slowed down economic growth in the last quarter; the Swiss GDP grew by 0.29 percent in 2021-Q4 relative to the previous quarter, while it had grown by 1.67 percent in 2021-Q3 relative to 2021-Q2. Still, in 2021-Q4 we observe a considerable rebound of 3.94 percent relative to the same quarter of the previous year. The SECO-based unemployment rate steadily declined to 2.53 percent, a value that is 0.80 percentage points lower compared to the same period of the previous year. Relative to 2020-Q4, prices went up by 1.44% despite the increasing strength of the Swiss franc. According to the OECD economic outlook, GDP is expected to continuously grow and to stabilize at an annual growth rate between 2.5 and 3.0 percent over the next years, unemployment will gradually decline, and inflation will stabilize between 0.5 and 1.0 percent.

April 2022