Swiss Firms Saw ‘Robust’ Growth in Third Quarter, SNB Says

Switzerland’s economy kept growing “robustly” in the third quarter, according to a Swiss National Bank survey of companies.

“Business activity in manufacturing is gathering pace, while services companies continue to show solid momentum,” the SNB said. “Order books in the construction industry remain full.”

Firms also expect turnover to keep rising in the coming quarters, the central bank said in a summary of its quarterly poll, published Wednesday.

The results come after an unusually strong economic performance in the second quarter, with the pharma and chemicals sectors driving expansion of 1.5%. At last week’s interest-rate decision, the SNB cautioned that this overstated underlying growth momentum.

It said Wednesday that for the first time in several quarters, firms see staff levels as “somewhat too low” and plan to boost hiring. Finding new workers is easier than usual, it said.

Wage growth is expected to slow to an average of 1.3% next year from 1.5% this year.

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