Economic Expectations Increase Further
Dates and News
The The ZEW-CS-Indicator for the economic sentiment in Switzerland has risen by 9.0 points to a reading of 11.5 points in April 2016. This increase further widens the gap between the indicator’s current positive value and negative territory, thereby continuing the trend seen in the previous month. The current economic situation is also assessed as being slightly more positive in comparison to that of the previous month, with a reading of minus 0.1 points. The ZEW-CS-Indicator reflects the expectations of the surveyed financial market experts regarding the economic development in Switzerland on a six-month time horizon. It is calculated on a monthly basis by the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Credit Suisse (CS), Zurich.
In regard to economic expectations as well as the current economic situation in Switzerland, the large majority of respondents do not expect to see any changes. Accordingly, almost two thirds of the financial market experts expect a stable economy in Switzerland in the coming six months. The share of analysts who assess the current economic situation as “normal” is even higher – a total of 88.9 per cent. All in all these assessments indicate a largely stable economic outlook for Switzerland and a relatively strong consensus amongst experts with respect to that view.
Following the European Central Bank’s decision to once again lower key interest rates in March 2016, financial analysts expect short term interest rates to remain stable in the Eurozone as well as in Switzerland. In the past few months, at least a third of respondents expected to see further decreases in interest rates in the Eurozone.
Detailed Results
More detailed results – including survey participants' assessment of developments in other countries – can be found in this month's edition of the "Switzerland Financial market report".
For more information please contact
Dr. Lena Jaroszek (ZEW), Phone +49 (0)621/1235-380, E-mail jaroszek@zew.de
Lukas Gehrig (Credit Suisse), Phone +41 44 333 52 07, E-mail lukas.gehrig@credit-suisse.com