BERN: Switzerland’s fourth-quarter (Q4) current account surplus widened by 5 billion Swiss francs ($5.04 billion) year on year to 22 billion francs as surpluses in services and in trade in goods both rose, data from the Swiss National Bank showed on Friday.
The financial account balance — the increase in the net international investment position resulting from cross-border investment — rose by 18 billion francs, mainly due to stockpiling an extra 21 billion in reserve assets, it said.
The net international investment position increased by 83 billion francs in the fourth quarter to 4.482 trillion francs, helped by exchange rate gains on assets denominated in dollars.
For 2016 as a whole the Swiss current account surplus narrowed by 5 billion francs to 70 billion.
