No. 153, July

China’s growing economic and political influence around the world and the impact that this has on Switzerland were the topics of the KOF Economic Forum held on 11 June this year. In Switzerland's China strategy, China is primarily portrayed as a partner whereas, in the EU and the US, China is mainly perceived as a competitor or rival. How does China respond to the West’s approach? And what does this mean for the Swiss economy?

The coronavirus crisis caused investment activity in the first year of the pandemic to fall less sharply than firms had originally feared. This is shown by the results of the semi-annual investment survey conducted in spring 2021. Investment is now expected to grow by a nominal 7 per cent in the current year. The increased proportion of companies that plan to pursue expansion investment is a sign of positive demand stimulus, especially in industry and among service providers.

Now that the pandemic is largely under control in most advanced economies, economic momentum is also picking up again worldwide. The United States in particular is living up to its reputation as the locomotive of the global economy thanks to massive government stimulus. However, there is a growing danger that the US economy will overheat in the medium term.

Over the past 140 years, female Swiss life expectancy has increased from 58.4 years in 1876 to 85.6 years in 2016. Male life expectancy has increased from 56.3 years in 1876 to 81.9 years in 2016. Most of these gains are due to a larger share of the Swiss population reaching old age, while a small remainder of the gains is due to an increase in old age itself.

The strength of Swiss companies’ business activity in June was similar to the previous month (see G 15). Following five recent rises in the KOF Business Situation Indicator, some of which were quite significant, the recovery was therefore weaker in June. The economy's recent turbulent catch-up process is slowing down.