Europe

Switzerland
Last reviewed: 04.06.09

Country information

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ECONOMY

Basic Economic Facts

GDP: US $ 387.7bn in 2006 ($418.1 forecast for 2007)
GDP per head: $38,602 in 2006
Annual Growth: 2.8% (2007)
Inflation: 0.8% (est. 2008)
Unemployment: 3.1% (February 2007)
Major Industries: Banking and insurance, machine and precision tools, textile machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, watches, telecoms, graphic machinery, food processing and packaging materials, electrical and mechanical engineering.
Major trading partners: Germany, France, US, Italy, UK, Japan, Netherlands, Austria
Exchange rate: £1 = Swiss Fr. 2.14 February 2008

Switzerland has more global companies than any comparable country, four of which feature among the top ten largest in Continental Europe. With few natural resources, the two mainstays of the Swiss economy are its substantial “invisibles” sector and its well-established, largely export-orientated, industrial manufacturing base. World-famous for its high-quality precision engineering industry, Switzerland is also very successful in other key sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecommunications, food processing and packaging, graphics and electrical and mechanical engineering. Some sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance and re-insurance, recorded record profits in 2006. An estimated one third of global private wealth is managed from Switzerland. In the 2006 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index Switzerland ranked No 1 for the first time. In October 2006 Transparency International ranked Swiss companies the least susceptible to paying bribes to win business overseas.