Moderate economic outlook according to KOF Economic Barometer
Published: Thursday, Nov 30th 2023, 09:30
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The outlook for the Swiss economy remains gloomy for the near future. Although the economic barometer rose slightly in November, it is still below its long-term average.
Compared to October, the economic barometer rose by 1.6 points to 96.7 points. Experts surveyed by the news agency AWP had forecast values between 94.0 and 97.0 points for November.
The barometer is thus moving closer to its long-term average, according to the ETH economic research institute KOF on Thursday. Since the middle of the year, it has remained at a more or less stable, but below-average level.
Manufacturing industry positive
According to the KOF, the increase in November is primarily attributable to indicators in the manufacturing industry and indicators in the "other services" economic sector. In the manufacturing sector (manufacturing and construction), indicators relating to the situation for intermediate products in particular developed positively, followed by the assessment of employment prospects and the competitive situation. However, indicators relating to production capacity and the business situation remained virtually unchanged.
Within the manufacturing sector, indicators for the textile industry, the metal industry and mechanical engineering in particular showed a positive trend. By contrast, indicators for the paper and printing industry and the wood, glass, stone and soil sector sent out negative signals. Other sectors, such as the hospitality industry and the finance and insurance sector, were also negative overall.
Important leading indicator
The KOF Economic Barometer is a leading indicator for the development of the Swiss economy, which is made up of a large number of individual indicators. These are combined into an overall indicator using statistically determined weightings.
The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), another important leading economic indicator, will be published on Friday (tomorrow).
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