The conditions for an upturn in Switzerland have improved significantly in the last 12 months, helped by improved sentiment and a weaker franc against the euro, Switzerland's top central banker said on Thursday.
In an interview with the BernerZeitung newspaper, Swiss National Bank Chairman Jean-Pierre Roth said Switzerland was set to return to potential growth of over 1.5 percent this year after slipping into a double dip recession in 2003.
The Swiss franc has fallen around 7.0 percent against the euro since the beginning of last year as investors have moved out of the dollar and into the single European currency.
The weakening of the Swiss franc against the euro has taken some of the pressure off Swiss firms.
"That improves our competitiveness," Roth said, reiterating the SNB's growth target for 2004 of "a good" 1.5 percent.
"Given the current account balance in the United States, the development of the dollar is no surprise in itself, but perhaps the speed of its decline is," he added.
"One has to be aware that for once we are in a somewhat more comfortable situation than our neighbours. The franc has risen less against the dollar than the euro has."
"However it was a swift movement and we know that there are certain sectors and regions which are more strongly dependent on the dollar than others and that obviously creates problems."
Switzerland does about two-thirds of its export trade with the neighbouring euro zone.
Roth is due to address members of the Business Club in Zurich later on Thursday.
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