In the second quarter of 2022, Switzerland experienced little economic growth relative to the previous quarter due to a contraction of international exports of more than 10 percent, as a consequence of the economic sanctions inflicted on Russia. The pharmaceutical and chemical industry suffered from the largest cuts in export levels. However, GDP is almost 3 percent higher than during the second quarter of 2021, when economic activity was still facing the consequences of the pandemic. During the first half of the year, the economic recovery, the production bottlenecks of the Chinese manufacturing firms that were forced to stop during the pandemic, and the uncertainty generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are contributing to increasing inflation rates, although Switzerland experienced only a modest increase in prices compared to other countries. Unemployment decreased by half a percentage point to 2 percent. The OECD economic outlook expects annual inflation to stay at 2.7 percent in 2022-Q3 and to decrease to 1.5 percent until the end of 2023. GDP is expected to grow at an annual rate that is slightly above 2 percent throughout 2023, and unemployment is expected to slowly, but steadily, decrease towards the next year.

October 2022