Current Account in Switzerland

The current account is the section of the balance of payments that records Switzerland's transactions with the rest of the world in goods and services trade, primary income (labour and capital income) and secondary income (current transfers, such as remittances). It is compiled by the Swiss National Bank (SNB).

It is the sum of the goods, services, primary income and secondary income balances, following the IMF's BPM6 methodology. A positive balance is a current-account surplus and a negative one a deficit; that balance equals the country's net lending to or borrowing from the rest of the world. It is published in quarterly levels.

Switzerland runs a very large structural current-account surplus, tied to pharmaceuticals, banking and income on its foreign investments; it reinforces its net creditor position and supports the franc. A deficit would have to be financed by capital outflows or a drawdown of reserves and would erode that position.

The figures come out several weeks or months after the reference period and are subject to revision as fuller data arrive. Switzerland's balance is heavily influenced by a few large flows (pharmaceuticals, commodity trading, dividends), which adds quarterly volatility.