Foreign Investments in Switzerland

General overview

Switzerland is primarily a service economy. The main service sector industries are insurance, banking, trade and commerce, and tourism. Swiss banking system is among the strongest in the world, this feature offering an advantage in front of other options for foreign investments. 

A study from the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce indicated in 2008 that almost 200 companies have set up corporate headquarters or have developed other significant activities in Switzerland over the past decade. In 2010, Switzerland had a total of 99 projects with foreign capital. Most of them belonged to the United States, but as European sources, the United Kingdom had the most investment projects, followed by Germany and France.

Jobs in Switzerland

Switzerland has around 4.5 million employed people. It also offers high salaries in connection to the high standard of living of the country. The unemployment rate is rather low in comparison to other European states, since in 2010 it was estimated at 3.59%. As general statistics show, 72% of the workforce is employed in the services sector, 24% in industry and 4% in farming. In 2008, there were 242,000 jobs created by foreign companies in Switzerland.

Figures

In 2008, the Swiss Foreign Investment Agency registered a total of 379,894 million CHF as foreign investments in Switzerland. In the same year, the Gross Domestic Product reached a total of 532.1 billion CHF. According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 6.6 million EUR was the calculated amount of foreign investment inflow in Switzerland in the year 2010. 

The Swiss National Bank provided information that the Netherlands was the main investing country in 2008, with 20% of the total foreign capital. The next in line were the United States, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany and France. The main sector that absorbed more than half of the foreign capital was finances and holding. Other sectors which attracted investments from abroad were manufacturing, trade, banking and insurance. Biotechnology, venture capital funds, IT & telecommunication, High-tech equipment are also regarded as high potential sectors.

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