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Economy

Economy - overview: Switzerland, a fundamentally prosperous and stable
modern economy with a per capita GDP roughly 10% above that of the big
West European economies, is experiencing continued economic
difficulties. GDP has dropped for five consecutive quarters,
unemployment is reaching record levels, and the fiscal deficit is
again above 3% of GDP. In 1997, growth may reach barely 0.6%; a
recovery is not likely before mid to late 1997. Weak domestic consumer
demand is partly at fault; declining real disposable income is
combining with a reluctance to reduce saving rates in the face of an
uncertain employment outlook. Switzerland's leading sectors, including
financial services, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and
special-purpose machines, will therefore be more reliant on export
markets at the same time they are being squeezed by the strong franc.
Consequently, growth in machinery and equipment investment, for
example, is expected to taper off. On the other side, import growth in
1997 also is likely to be lower than the 1995 rate of 6.6%, but higher
than 1996's expected 1.9%.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $161.3 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: -0.75% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $22,600 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 31.1%
services: 66.1% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 0.8% (1996)

Labor force:
total: 3.776 million (939,000 foreign workers, mostly Italian)
by occupation: services 67%, manufacturing and construction 29%,
agriculture and forestry 4% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 5.3% (December 1996)

Budget:
revenues: $31 billion
expenditures : $36.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1995)

Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision
instruments

Industrial production growth rate: -2% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 14.27 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 62.2 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 6,810 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs

Exports:
total value: $81.35 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: manufactures 94.74%, agricultural products 2.99%, raw
materials 2.05%, fuels 0.15% (1995)
partners: EU countries 62.1%, US 8.7%,