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Swiss consumer spending rises in March despite tariff uncertainties

Swiss consumer spending rises in March despite Trump
Spending increased by 1.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest PostFinance consumption indicator. Keystone-SDA

Global financial turmoil and uncertainties surrounding trade tariffs have not yet had an impact on consumer behaviour in Switzerland, where spending rose strongly in March.

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Consumer spending increased by 1.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the PostFinance consumption indicator published on Tuesday. This followed significant increases in January (+1.2%) and February (+1.1%).

According to a press release, consumer concerns have increased significantly. At the same time, expectations regarding Switzerland’s future economic development have deteriorated due to the trade tariffs announced by United States President Donald Trump. But actual spending behaviour has so far remained unaffected, it said.

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Every month, Postfinance analyses the payment transactions of its 2.4 million customers in anonymised form. The resulting consumption indicator shows consumer spending adjusted for the effects of sales days and public holidays in a year-on-year comparison or on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous month.

According to the analysis, leisure spending in particular has remained at a high level recently. The propensity to spend on eating out was particularly high. Spending on holiday and travel also remains high.

Expenditure for products and treatments from the beauty and wellness sector, on the other hand, were slightly lower in March than in previous months.

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Translated from German by DeepL/sb

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