More and more debt? Since 2000, Switzerland has had an average annual budget surplus of 0.1% of GDP.

The budget surplus (net government expenditure) is calculated as the difference between revenues and expenditures. To minimize annual budget fluctuations (such as those caused by Corona), the average budget surplus/deficit since 2000 was used instead of a single annual observation. In contrast to Switzerland, neighboring countries recorded an average budget deficit over the same period; -1.5% (Germany), -2.5% (Austria), -3.9% (Italy), and -4.3% (France). Italy and France thus clearly violate the EU convergence criteria during most years, which limit the maximum annual budget deficit to 3% of GDP.