Switzerland's trade surplus rose 45.8 percent from a year earlier to hit a monthly record of 1.89 billion Swiss francs (1.13 billion euros, 1.63 billion dollars) in November, figures showed Thursday. At the same time, however, the customs office cautioned that the export performance had faltered slightly compared to previous months.
They were still up 9.3 percent to 18.42 billion Swiss francs, while imports rose 6.2 percent to 16.53 billion Swiss francs in November. Exports to Europe, China and Russia were very strong but shipments to the United States and Japan slowed, the customs office said.
Separately, the government said Thursday it expected overall economic growth to slow sharply to 1.9 percent in 2008 and 1.7 percent in 2009 after a gain of 2.8 percent this year. The economy ministry said the figures for 2007 had been revised up by 0.2 percentage points because there had been strong global growth during the three months to September. However, recent weaker global indicators "point to a clear slowing in the fourth quarter," with Switzerland unable to escape the anticipated downturn, it added.
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