Macroeconomics

The Chinese economy is investing again in 2017, the latest data from the Statistics Bureau shows. The first two months of 2017 saw China’s fixed capital investment rise 8.9 % compared to the same period last year, which was also above expectations of 8.2%. Most of this came from the public sector, where investments grew 14.4%. Private-sector investment, which constitutes 60% of the total investment, increased by 6.7% from a year ago, the highest growth rate in a year.

"Today’s data appeared to be mainly driven by infrastructure spending and a rebound in the real estate sector," said Zhou Hao, a Singapore-based economist at Commerzbank.

Progress in making women equal to men in the economy is painfully slow, and women are still more likely than men to live in poverty, says the report, entitled “An Economy that Works for Women” published by Oxfam.

According to the source, globally, the average gender pay gap is 23 percent and 700 million fewer women than men are in paid work. The compiled data reveal that women carry out between two and 10 times more unpaid care work than men, which is worth $10 trillion to the global economy each year, equivalent to over an eighth of the world’s entire GDP, “Women’s disproportionate responsibility for the work squeezes the amount of time that they have to go to school and earn a living.

The headline Swiss unemployment rate declined to 3.6% for February from 3.7% the previous month. The rate was unchanged from the 3.6% recorded in February 2016. The seasonally-adjusted rate was unchanged at 3.3% for the month and there has been no change in the adjusted rate for nine months. Youth unemployment, which applies to the 15 to 24 age group, declined 6.7% on the year which will help boost confidence in the labour market.

The stock of vacancies declined significantly on the month, although there was still a small 0.3% increase on the year and there was a significant increase in new reported vacancies on the month which is also an encouraging sign.

The Swiss National Bank reported a profit in 2016, the annual results showed Monday. A profit of CHF 24.5 billion was recorded in 2016 compared to a loss of CHF 23.3 billion in 2015.
The profit on foreign currency positions totaled CHF 19.4 billion. A valuation gain of CHF 3.9 billion was registered on gold holdings and a profit of CHF 1.6 billion on Swiss franc positions.

The Swiss economy expanded marginally in the fourth quarter, figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) showed Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew by a less-than-expected 0.1% sequentially, the same pace of expansion as seen in the third quarter. Economists had forecast a quarterly growth of 0.4%. The SECO had earlier estimated flat growth for the third quarter.

Switzerland’s export-oriented economy has faced headwinds due to the strength of the franc, which central bank policy makers have repeatedly called “significantly overvalued.” Better growth in the neighboring euro area may help Switzerland, where the manufacturing, retail and tourism sectors have all been negatively affected by the currency. Imports of goods logged a sequential growth of 0.2%, while services import declined 5.2%.
The year-on-year growth more than halved to 0.6% in the fourth quarter from a revised 1.4% in the previous quarter. Economists had forecast the growth rate to remain steady at the third quarter’s original figure of 1.3%.

Swiss private consumption is set to grow robustly over the coming months as households’ economic and financial expectations have improved considerably, results of a survey by the UBS bank showed Wednesday.

The UBS consumption indicator rose from 1.38 to 1.43 points in January and continues to signal solid growth in private consumption. Swiss consumers view the economic and financial situation with considerably more optimism than in the last quarter. New car registrations and domestic tourism have, however, fallen compared with the previous January. Economists had forecast a score of 1.5.

It is a decade since the start of the financial crisis. What started in the US housing market later engulfed the global economy and is having an enduring legacy on the UK – perhaps most notably on savers.

The Swiss central bank sought on Monday to allay fears among citizens that bank notes could eventually be phased out as a result of global money-laundering rules or the rise of alternative payments systems.

Among other benefits over cashless payments, cash provides "more effective budget control" and can be used without any technical know-how, while it also offers a comprehensive protection with regard to financial privacy, SNB’s deputy head Fritz Zurbruegg said.

It has been speculated for some time that Switzerland may have to do away with cash, especially high value banknotes, to get rid of its tag of being an alleged ‘safe haven’ for black money stashed by foreigners.