The Swiss economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 and recorded an uninterrupted year of growth.
Switzerland has one of the soundest economies in the European region, defying the recession that afflicted its neighbours. The increase in the national GDP beat the expectations of the economists who forecasted that the domestic product will grow from 0.0 and 0.4 per cent. Daniel Hartmann, an economist at Bantleon Bank in Zug told Bloomberg, “It’s a clear success -- they achieved what they wanted, minimizing deflation risks…At the beginning the step was met with much skepticism. There were worries the cap wouldn’t be manageable, that it would fail or the SNB would have to buy lots of euros and was exposing itself to huge losses.”
In the first quarter of 2013, the Swiss economy grew by 0.6 percent. Overall, the national GDP expanded for the fourth consecutive quarter. The main factor behind growth was the expansion of private consumption which was up by 0.7 per cent during the second quarter of 2013. More for the first time in a year, investments in machinery and equipment also jumped higher, rising by 2.9 per cent.
However, construction investments and trade balance didn’t contribute to Switzerland's grow, as its imports grew by 1.4 per cent, clearly outpacing its exports, which fell by 0.9 per cent. Construction investments drop by 0.3 per cent.
Overall, the Swiss economy is considered a prosperous and modern market economy with low unemployment rate, and a per capita GDP among the highest in the world. Well known multinationals, such as Nestle and Novartis base their operations in Switzerland.