Switzerland continues to stand out for the soundness of its public finances. Despite a challenging European and global context, the country’s coffers are in good shape – particularly when compared with those of its neighbours. The Federal Finance Administration recently published the latest figures (for 2024, although not yet fully consolidated). They show that, by international standards, Swiss public finances as a whole – government, cantons, municipalities and social insurance – recorded a surplus of more than CHF4.5 billion ($5.6 billion), against expenditure of almost CHF268 billion (just under CHF30,000 per inhabitant). After surpluses of almost CHF10 billion in 2022 and CHF2.8 billion in 2023, this marks the third consecutive positive result since the pandemic. Last year’s surplus (still provisional) was mainly due to the revenues and costs of social insurances (surplus of more than CHF5.3 billion) and the cantons (CHF361 million). By contrast, the municipalities (CHF36 ...
