Swiss consumers don’t need govt help to cope with inflation -finance minister

Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer attends a information meeting in Vienna, Austria August 25, 2020. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

ZURICH, Could 25 (Reuters) – Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer dominated out government guidance for customers hit by large vitality costs and stated funds cuts may possibly be necessary since the authorities would not increase taxes to weather conditions a looming financial storm.

“Petrol price ranges are affordable in wealthy Switzerland,” he told the Tages-Anzeiger paper in an job interview revealed on Wednesday.

Maurer, a fiscal hawk from the proper-wing Swiss People’s Occasion, reported a economic downturn was nearing but its severity depended on how very long the war in Ukraine lasted and on electrical power rates.

He claimed Swiss banking institutions must resist pressure to stage up enforcement of sanctions on Russians staying punished in the West for the invasion of Ukraine.

“If anything we should say: Gradual down a little bit and never put into practice the sanctions with a ‘Swiss finish’. Our banks likely sanction additional harshly than anybody else,” he was quoted as stating.

He said Switzerland should use gasoline-fired energy plants and increase the existence of nuclear energy plants to help meet up with its energy requires, including that Switzerland would assistance to finance gas terminals that neighbour Germany was developing.

Reporting by Michael Shields Enhancing by Edmund Klamann

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