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Tom Jordan, head of the Swiss National Bank, said the crisis from the COVID-19 outbreak had put strong pressure on the Swiss economy, which currently only operates at 70-80%. at its normal level.
“The current slowdown in growth is the same as the oil crisis of the 1980s,” Jordan said in an interview with Tamedia, a group of Swiss publications published on Sunday.
According to the head of the central bank, the measures taken by Switzerland in an attempt to control the spread of the virus have an “enormous” impact on the economy, with a loss of “11-17 billion euros” every month. Swiss francs (10.4-16.1 billion euros) “.
Jordan warned that public debt would inevitably rise, as would the cost of unemployment insurance and the subsidies given to companies to survive. As a result, Switzerland is likely to have a significant deficit this year.
The weekly Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung have estimated that Switzerland will need a total of around € 100 billion to mitigate the effects of the crisis. francs
The publications noted that the number of unemployed increased by 43% in April compared to the same month in 2019. Currently, around 2 million. 8.5 million people. populations seeking unemployment benefits.
Switzerland did not take particularly strict quarantine measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, but introduced a series of restrictive measures in mid-March, including the closure of restaurants and many other companies.
To date, more than 1,500 people have died and more than 30,000 have been infected with COVID-19 in the country.
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