Gross domestic product in 4th quarter 2014
Bern, 03.03.2015 - Switzerland’s real gross domestic product (GDP) in the 4th quarter 2014 rose by 0.6%* compared with the previous quarter. Private and public consumption expenditures as well as the balance of trade in goods delivered positive growth contributions. By contrast, the balance of trade in services and gross investments in equipment both failed to provide some impetus to growth. On the production side, the strongest contributions to GDP growth came from manufacturing, financial services, property and housing and the public sector. The GDP deflator remained almost unchanged against the 4th quarter 2013 (0.0%). The results of the quarterly national accounts give an initial and provisional GDP growth rate for the full year 2014 at constant prices of 2.0% compared with the 1.9% growth rate achieved in 2013.
Household consumption expenditure and that of non-profit organisations (NPOs) increased by 0.3% compared with the previous quarter. Virtually all subcategories contributed to the rise in consumption in the 4th quarter, with only the clothing category making a small negative contribution. General government consumption expenditure and social security consumption rose by 1.9% in the 4th quarter.
Investments in equipment (including research & development and military investments) increased by 1.0% in the 4th quarter 2014, continuing the record of growth. By contrast, investments in construction reported a fall (-1.4%).
After posting relatively strong growth in the previous quarter, exports of goods (excluding non-monetary gold, valuables and merchanting) were down by 1.0% in the 4th quarter 2014. This contraction was attributable in particular to the precision tools/watches/jewellery category. The majority of the other categories such as exports of chemicals/pharmaceuticals and metals/machinery/electronics also posted a slight fall. By contrast, vehicle exports (rail vehicles) posted a marked rise.
Imports of goods (excluding non-monetary gold and valuables) in the 4th quarter were lower in comparison to the previous quarter (-1.8%). As with exports of goods, the majority of the categories reported a fall. The reduction in imports of chemicals/pharmaceuticals in particular had a relatively significant impact on the fall as these account for a high proportion of the overall aggregate. Vehicle imports were the only category to post an increase.
Exports of services (including tourism) rose by 0.6% in the 4th quarter 2014. Imports of services (including tourism) also reported a similar rate of growth (+0.5%).
On the production side, the strongest impetus for growth in the 4th quarter 2014 came from manufacturing (+1.8%), financial services (+1.8%), property and housing (+0.5%) as well as from the public sector (+0.8%). The only negative impact on GDP growth was provided by the construction industry (-0.5%) and the transport/warehousing & information/communication sector (-0.5%). Growth on the production side in the 4th quarter 2014 therefore remained relatively broadly-based.
The GDP deflator stagnated in relation to the 4th quarter 2013 (0.0%). The deflator for private household consumption was slightly lower (-0.2%), whilst prices of exports of goods (-0.5%) and services (-0.7%) and imports of goods resp. services (-1.3%/-0.1%) also continued to fall as they have done in the previous quarters.
Initial provisional results for the year 2014
The results of the quarterly national accounts give an initial, provisional GDP growth rate for the full year 2014 of 2.0% at constant prices and 2.0% at current prices (no change in the GDP deflator). On the consumption side of the GDP, the balance of trade in particular provided positive contributions to growth. Cross-border trade in goods and services (excluding non-monetary gold and valuables) delivered a positive contribution of 1.4 percentage points to the growth in GDP, the strongest since 2008. Private household consumption also made a positive contribution to GDP growth (+0.5 percentage points). Many prices (consumption, investment, exports and imports) have been stagnating respectively were slightly negative for six years now.
*Unless stated otherwise the percentage changes over the previous quarter listed here (not annualized) are calculated on the basis of price-adjusted, chained series, seasonal and calendar adjusted values in accordance with X-13ARIMA-SEATS. “Real” is used as an abbreviation for the formulation “data at previous year prices, quarterly chained series with reference year 2010”. The official terminology also uses the phrase “volume changes”. The comparisons with the previous year which are used in this media release, in particular for the comments on the development of the price indices, are based on the changes in the original figures over the previous year (before seasonal and calendar adjustments).
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