Overview
In Q3 2023, the current account surplus was CHF 23 billion, down CHF 4 billion on the same quarter of 2022.
- This decrease was mainly attributable to the balance of trade in services.
- The balances of trade in goods, primary income and secondary income saw little change.
Due to the introduction of the new current account survey as of Q1 2023, it is possible that the data will be revised more extensively than usual at a later date.
In the financial account, reported transactions in Q3 2023 showed a net reduction in both financial assets (down by CHF 36 billion) and liabilities (down by CHF 55 billion). The financial account balance thus stood at CHF 19 billion.
- The net reduction on the assets side was largely due to the sale of foreign exchange reserves (reserve assets) by the SNB.
- The net reduction on the liabilities side was also linked to the SNB’s transactions: it decreased its liabilities to non-resident investors in the form of SNB Bills (portfolio investment).
In Q3 2023, the net international investment position increased by CHF 40 billion quarter-on-quarter to CHF 790 billion. This rise was due to the stocks of liabilities showing a more pronounced decline than the stocks of assets.
- Stocks of assets were down by CHF 50 billion to CHF 5,170 billion, and stocks of liabilities by CHF 90 billion to CHF 4,380 billion.
- The decline on the assets and the liabilities sides was due not only to the transactions recorded in the financial account but also to price-related valuation losses following the lower prices on stock exchanges in Switzerland and abroad
Data revisions
The data on the balance of payments and international investment position take into account revisions that have arisen mostly as a result of newly available information from reporting institutions. Some of these revisions date back to 2015. More detailed information on these revisions is available under Changes and revisions on the SNB’s data portal.
Further information
The Swiss National Bank introduced a new current account survey as of Q1 2023. More detailed information is available under Changes and revisions on the SNB’s data portal. Comprehensive charts and tables covering Switzerland’s balance of payments and international investment position can be found on the SNB’s data portal. Detailed data are
available in the supplementary data on international economic affairs datasets.
>> Changes and revisions ‒ International economic affairs
Source:
Swiss National Bank
www.snb.ch
