Eastern Switzerland offers optimistic economic assessment
St.Gallen – The economy of Eastern Switzerland has recovered slightly, although uncertainty does still remain. This development was revealed by the Eastern Switzerland Economic Forum of the IHK St.Gallen-Appenzell and the Cantonal Bank of St.Gallen. The figures from an IHK corporate survey also confirm this situation.
As the St.Gallen-Appenzell Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) writes in a press release, the economy of Eastern Switzerland has recovered slightly. This was shown by both the guests who took to the stage at the Economic Forum of the IHK and the Cantonal Bank of St.Gallen (SGKB) as well as by an IHK corporate survey. At the same time, however, the high level of uncertainty persists.
The Economic Forum took place in the production hall of DGS Druckgusssysteme AG and was broadcast and recorded live. In opening the event, the President of the St.Gallen-Appenzell Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Roland Ledergerber, emphasized that the economy of Eastern Switzerland was facing exceptionally major challenges. “Especially in times like this, stability is a success factor for the economy”, he commented.
This year has been incredibly eventful and we have experienced huge changes like seldom before, explains Markus Bänzinger, Director of the IHK, in the press release. Nevertheless, many companies in Eastern Switzerland will attempt to take this opportunity to actively control the changes.
Members of the newly created Economic Board of Eastern Switzerland presented the results of the recent survey conducted by IHK St.Gallen-Appenzell and IHK Thurgau. This was part of a series of surveys seeking to document the condition, risk profile and future prospects of the economy of Eastern Switzerland.
According to the survey, four in every five companies assessed their business performance as satisfactory to good in the previous quarter, with the highest share here attributable to the canton of Thurgau. However, there are major disparities between different sectors: “While the views on business development within the construction industry are practically unanimously positive, companies in the area of mechanical engineering and the metal processing industry are forced to deal with greater complications”, comments Caroline Hilb Paraskevopoulos, Head of Investment Strategy and Analysis at SGKB.
In the service sector, it is above all IT firms that are content with business development. Performance has, however, been less positive for gastronomic enterprises, advertising firms and publishing houses. However, there are no expectations that a spate of redundancies and bankruptcies are on the cards for the near future.