2019.12.1209:46:00UTC+00Swiss Govt Sees Moderate Growth In 2020

The Swiss economy is set to see only a moderate growth next year, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO.

In the winter economic forecast, released Thursday, the expert group of federal government said a gradual economic upturn is not anticipated until 2021.

The agency lifted its growth forecast for 2019 to 0.9 percent from 0.8 percent, while the outlook for 2020 was retained at 1.7 percent.

Growth is forecast to ease to 1.2 percent in 2021. Both the acceleration of GDP growth in 2020 and the slowdown in 2021 will be due to the effect of major sporting events, which has little relevance for the stance of the business cycle.

The expert group of the federal government said consumer prices will rise 0.4 percent this year, instead of 0.5 percent estimated in September.

Slowed by the decline in oil prices, among other things, inflation is likely to come in much lower in 2020. The agency downgraded inflation forecast to 0.1 percent from 0.4 percent for next year. For 2021, inflation is seen at 0.4 percent.

The expert group is forecasting an unemployment rate of 2.4 percent for 2020 and 2.6 percent in 2021.