Should the Swiss National Bank distribute more money to the government?

swissinfo.ch

In many countries, the issue of how much profit central banks redistribute to the population remains complex. This is also the case in Switzerland, where there are arguments for and against higher profit distributions by the Swiss National Bank (SNB). 

Under the terms of a profit-sharing accord, the Swiss central bank distributes part of its annual profits to the federal authorities and the cantons when its financial situation permits. In good years this can be several billion Swiss francs. 

On January 9 the SNB posted an annual loss of CHF132 billion ($143 billion) for 2022, the biggest in its 115-year history. The 2022 loss means the central bank will not make its usual payout. In 2021 it made a CHF26 billion profit. 

Should the SNB continue paying out money to the Confederation and cantons despite a big annual loss and limited equity. Or would such a payout be irresponsible, even though the Confederation and the cantons will probably have to raise taxes or adopt austerity packages if no more SNB money flows? 

To help answer these questions, Geldcast host Fabio Canetg talked to parliamentarian Andri Silberschmidt, of the Radical-Liberal Party, and Gerhard Andrey, a Green Party parliamentarian. (Click on the 

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Author Fabio Canetg completed his doctorate in monetary policy at the University of Bern and the Toulouse School of Economics. Today he is a lecturer at the University of Bern. As a journalist, he works for SRF Arena, Republik Magazin and SWI swissinfo.ch, where he hosts the monetary policy podcast “Geldcast”.