ZEW-CS Financial Market Test Switzerland - Economic Expectations Hardly Changed at all

The Financial Market Test Switzerland, carried out by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Credit Suisse, paints a nearly unchanged picture of the prospects for the Swiss economy on a six month time frame. In fact, the ZEW-CS-Indicator of economic expectations edged up marginally by just 0.6 points to the minus 57.1 mark. The indicator for the assessment of the current economic situation in Switzerland continued to worsen in March. The respective indicator drops 11.8 points and also reaches the minus 57.1 mark.

Inflation expectations remained almost unchanged at a low level, with 61.2 percent of survey participants continuing to predict that consumer prices will decline in the medium term.

Within the scope of this month’s "special question", the financial market analysts were asked to convey their assessment regarding the significance and future of bank client secrecy in Switzerland. According to the results, the analysts regard the stability of the Swiss financial realm as the greatest competitive advantage, followed by the country’s international standing. The experts ranked professionalism in providing management services to wealthy clients in third place, followed by bank secrecy. Merely eleven percent of the respondents regard abolition of the bank secrecy laws as the most likely scenario.

For further information please contact

Dr. Gunnar Lang (ZEW), Phone: +49/621/1235-372, E-mail: lang@zew.de

Fabian Heller (CS), Phone: +41/44/332-9061, E-mail:fabian.heller@credit-suisse.com