Drab summer, hot jazz, weak franc

Keystone

Almost every article published by swissinfo.ch contains a percentage, an age, an amount of money or some other figure. Here’s a round-up of the most interesting statistics to appear in the past week’s stories.

Monday

1,231

The number of seconds it took for the head of the Böögg, a stuffed snowman, to explode in Zurich. The 20 minutes and 31 seconds (a relatively long time) traditionally means a poor summer. 

Tuesday

52

The Montreux Jazz Festival will take placed for the 52^nd time from June 29 to July 14. The line-up was announced on Tuesday, with headline names including Nick Cave, Jamiroquai, Van Morrison, N.E.R.D, Jack White, Chick Corea and Gilberto Gil. 

Wednesday

996

Between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019, a total of 996 work permits can be issued to Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants, the government announced. 

Thursday

1.20

As the Swiss franc weakens towards the threshold CHF1.20 exchange rate with the euro, the likelihood remains slim that Switzerland’s central bank will alter monetary policy any time soon. On Thursday morning, one euro cost CHF1.198. 

Friday

2,900

That’s how many more requests there were for Swiss citizenship between May 2017 and March 2018 in the city of Zurich compared with the same period the previous years. That’s a rise of 65% The reason? A letter sent to all eligible foreigners urging them to become citizens before the criteria became stricter.