Swiss food staples up to 20% more expensive from last year

Family breakfasts in Switzerland are significantly more expensive now than at the same period in 2022. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Inflation continues to hit Swiss consumers, with the price of some food staples, such as margarine and cooking oils, rising by 20% in March on an annual basis.

The price of sugar increased 17%, butter 12.2% and milk, cheese and eggs by 8.5% in March compared to the same month last year, according to research from price comparison portal Comparis.

+ Read how Switzerland copes with rising prices

The latest official figures from the Federal Statistical Office revealed an inflation rate of 3.4% for a wider range of items in February year-on-year.

“Just two years ago, the vast majority of economists believed that inflation would quickly fall again,” Aymo Brunetti, former head of economic policy for the Swiss government told SWI swissinfo.ch last month. “Probably many economists thought that inflation was a phenomenon of the past.” 

However, the cost of some items has started to cool off, and even fell in March compared to 2022.

Fuel prices fell by 7.4%, health services cost 3.6% less and telecommunication bills dropped by 3.4%, says Comparis.

Looking at the full range of food, fuel and service costs analysed by the price comparison portal, Swiss consumers paid 3.5% more in March than the same month last year.

Switzerland’s central bank has responded to rising prices by increasing interest rates from negative territory to 1.5% by March.