Switzerland narrowly avoids recession

The Alpine nation's growth prospects have been in doubt since it eliminated its currency ceiling earlier this year

Switzerland narrowly avoided its first recession in six years as rising investment and consumer spending in the second quarter gave the economy the boost it needed to return to growth of 0.2 percent.

That Jan. 15 decision by the Swiss Central Bank caused the franc to shoot up in value by as much as 20 percent, putting pressure on exporters because it made their wares more expensive for foreign buyers.

That in turn led to a contraction in the first quarter of the year of 0.2 percent. Economists polled by news agencies had expected Switzerland's economy to shrink again in the second quarter by 0.1 percent.

However, thanks to 1.5 percent more investment in equipment and software sectors, the country was able to defy those predictions. Another contributor to the better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) results was household spending, which was up as domestic prices slumped...............

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