KOF Business Tendency Surveys: Situation Is Picking Up Freitag, 04. November 2016 - 09:04
04.11.2016 | Press release
In October, the KOF Business Situation Indicator for the Swiss private economy rose for the fourth consecutive time. It looks as if the recovery of the recent summer months will continue. Companies are also more confident with respect to their future development. Business expectations for the coming six months are more positive than they were in the middle of the year. The Swiss economy is carried along by a modest but steady tailwind.
Development by economic sector
In October, the business situation improved in the majority of the industries under review. The Business Situation Indicator rose in the manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale industries as well as the banking and insurance sector and the hotel and catering industry. All in all, the increase of the Business Situation Indicator has a relatively broad basis. While project engineering offices experienced little change in their business situation compared to the previous month, and other services are slowing down their upward tendency, their situation remains nevertheless predominantly positive.
Business situation by region
From a regional perspective, October presents a heterogeneous picture. In North-West Switzerland, the situation improved considerably. On top of this, the business situation has also picked up in the Lake Geneva region, Central Switzerland, the Zurich region and Ticino, which still remains at the bottom of the league. In contrast, the situation in Eastern Switzerland did not quite reach the previous month’s level and Espace Mittelland reported a slight downturn. In the year-on-year comparison, Espace Mittelland is also the only region that reported a noticeable deterioration of its business situation in the last 12 months.
The results of the current KOF Business Tendency Surveys of October 2016 are based on the answers of over 4,500 companies in industry, construction and the main service sectors. The response rate was approximately 56%.