BERN: The majority of Switzerland’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) expect their exports to stagnate in the months to come as a result of the strong Swiss franc, according to a quarterly survey by Credit Suisse and Switzerland Global Enterprise.
In the first edition of the SME Export Indicator since the Swiss National Bank (SNB) un-pegged the Swiss franc from the euro in January, only 29.2% of Swiss companies surveyed expect an increase in exports in the months to come. That’s compared to 48.6% in the last edition of the survey, released just one day before the SNB’s announcement on January 15. And, in just one quarter, the export indicator – where numbers above 50 indicate an expected rise in exports and numbers below 50 an expected decline – plunged from 65.4 points to 46.6.
“The export perspectives…clearly reflect the shock of the strong franc,” Credit Suisse observes. “It’s the weakest [indicator value] since the first survey in the second quarter of 2010.” And the first quarter of 2012 was the last time the indicator stood below 50, indicating exports might decline.
