"It is doubtful that Switzerland is already on a sustainable recovery path"
- Bernd Hartmann, head of investment research at VP Bank
The overall unemployment rate in Switzerland edged higher last month, adding to concerns that the deepening Eurozone debt crisis weighed on the nation's economy. According to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the jobless rate rose to a non-seasonally adjusted 3.3% in December from 3.1% in the preceding month. When adjusted for seasonal factors, unemployment remained unchanged at 3.0%. At the same time, the number of people registered as unemployed, rose to 142,309 up from 132,067, while the number of newly opened vacancies dropped to 13,722, from 15,876 a month earlier.
"It is doubtful that Switzerland is already on a sustainable recovery path. The economic problems in the eurozone are having an increasingly strong impact on the Swiss economy," said Bernd Hartmann, head of investment research at VP Bank. "The Swiss economy will have to get used to a weaker economic momentum. There is a lack of fresh impulses in the shape of investments despite record low interest rates."
SNB Vice Chairman Jean-Pierre Danthine said: "We want to contribute to a soft landing. Activating the countercyclical capital buffer is a question of timing."
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