News & Events

The KOF MPC figure for 11 April 2024 is -0.26. At today’s meeting, the ECB’s Governing Council decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged and confirmed that incoming data is in line with its previous medium-term inflation outlook.

The Leading Global Barometer rises in April, partially offsetting the substantial decline of the previous month to remain close to the neutral level of 100 points. The Coincident Barometer falls slightly this month, confirming that it peaked in January before pointing to a subsequent phase of rather sluggish global economic activity.

The KOF Business Situation Indicator for the Swiss private sector fell again in March after initially not continuing its downward trend in the previous month (see chart G 8). Firms’ expectations about their business activities over the next six months are slightly more confident than they were in the previous month. Conditions in the Swiss economy remain challenging.

Cryptocurrency markets are rallying to new highs. Simultaneously, another type of cryptoasset is gaining relevance: stablecoins. Unlike Bitcoin & Co, stablecoins aim to maintain a steady value against a national currency. They facilitate trade on cryptoexchanges, underpin the DeFi ecosystem and promise to be a stable store of value. Unregulated, however, they come with significant risks. KOF economists Hugo van Buggenum, Hans Gersbach and Sebastian Zelzner discuss regulatory measures.

The sharp rise in energy prices since 2022 has led to much debate. But how important are energy prices really for companies? And through which channels are companies exposed to energy prices? To answer this question, researchers from KOF, EPFL and the University of Lausanne conducted a company survey funded by the Enterprise for Society (E4S) Foundation and the MTEC Foundation.