The economy Swiss economy growing only weakly - Confederation lowers forecast
As previously announced, the Swiss economy grew only weakly in the second quarter. The outlook for 2026 has become gloomier.
28.08.2025, 09:08
SDA
Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by just 0.1% on an adjusted basis compared to the starting quarter, as announced by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) on Thursday. This confirmed an initial estimate published just under two weeks ago. According to the press release, industrial value added in Switzerland and exports declined significantly. In contrast, the service sector has seen "broad-based" growth.
The GDP development figure is adjusted for sporting events. It is well known that the Olympic Games and major football events distort Swiss GDP due to the licensing income that flows to the sports associations based in Switzerland. However, unadjusted GDP growth was also 0.1 percent.
The Swiss economy was held back by US President Donald Trump's tariff policy. At the beginning of April, the US government introduced basic tariffs of 10% on the import of goods - with a few exceptions. Since the beginning of August, Switzerland has even been subject to a tariff of 39%.
Forecast for 2026 significantly lowered
Against the backdrop of the US tariff hammer and based on a simulation calculation, Seco's economists are lowering their expectations for GDP growth. As a result of the higher US import tariffs, the Swiss economy is likely to grow more slowly than previously expected, particularly in 2026, they said.
For the current year 2025, Seco is assuming growth of 1.2% in the current situation. In June, the federal economists were still expecting growth of 1.3%. The GDP forecast for 2026 is now +0.8 percent after +1.2 percent previously.
