Swiss economy forecasts: good weather in 2017

Switzerland's economic growth projection for 2017 was downgraded as activity turned out disappointingly weak in the second half of last year.

In the Spring forecast, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said it expected economic growth of 1.6% in 2017, down from the forecast of 1.8% it gave in December. The downward adjustment to resulted from a "sluggish close of 2016," SECO said.

The group  expects economic growth of 1.9% in 2018, the same as its earlier view. This meant the Swiss economy "would continue to recover at a solid albeit not exceptionally strong rate," SECO said.

The most recent data is indicating accelerated growth in the near future, SECO said. Growth is forecast to step up significantly over the coming quarters, largely offsetting the lack of momentum at the turn of 2017.

Private consumption should gain strength against the back-drop of a recovering job market and steady population growth. The increased optimism amongst Swiss companies suggests that investments in equipment will expand moderately over the forecast period. The trend is set to return to more moderate growth rates in 2017 and 2018 to some extent, the SECO noted.

The agency also expects the job market to benefit from the economic recovery, anticipating, as before, that unemployment will drop to 3.2% in 2017 and 3.1% in 2018.