Economic Survey of Switzerland, 2009

The global crisis will have a lasting impact on the Swiss economy. Despite the recession, Switzerland has weathered the crisis better than other OECD economies in part owing to exports in goods less sensitive to the business cycle and resilient domestic credit markets, in part reflecting the absence of a marked housing cycle. Swift intervention by the authorities to support the country’s largest bank also helped avoid an aggravation of the crisis, the large size of the financial intermediaries posing a potential risk for public finances and macro-economic stability. After a marked expansion of employment, unemployment is on the rise and some of the increase resulting from the crisis may persist. While living standards are among the highest in
the OECD, the gap in productivity per hour worked relative to other leading OECD economies is considerable and trend productivity growth remains weak. Scope for expansion of financial services may have diminished.

OECD: Economic Surveys: Switzerland http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/23/44259489.pdf

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