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TRADE

Swiss trade surplus leaps in November

Switzerland's trade surplus leapt 69.6 percent to three billion francs ($3.2 billion) in November, largely owing to a drop in imports, customs officials said on Monday.

Published: 20 December 2011 11:23 CET

The Swiss central bank is operating a policy of capping a rise of the franc in response to the eurozone crisis to retain the competitiveness of Swiss business.

Exports rose 0.9 percent to 17.8 billion francs compared to the figure for the same month last year, marking a slowdown from a 1.5 percent increase in October.

Sales by the watch manufacturing industry in the busy Christmas shopping season accounted for a large part of exports followed by food and chemicals.

Imports flagged however, dropping 6.7 percent to 14.8 billion Swiss francs, underlining a slowdown in activity in the country which has begun to feel the effects of the eurozone crisis. It followed a 0.6 rise in imports in October.

Since the beginning of the year Switzerland’s has posted a trade surplus of 21.8 billion francs.

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TRADE

Norway and UK strike post-Brexit trade deal

Norway and the United Kingdom have struck an agreement on a free trade deal, the Norwegian government announced on Friday.

Published: 4 June 2021 13:51 CEST
Norway and UK strike post-Brexit trade deal
Erna Solberg outside 10 Downing Street in 2019. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP)

Negotiations over the agreement have been ongoing since last summer, and the Norwegian government said that the deal is the largest free trade agreement Norway has entered into, outside of the EEA agreement. 

“The agreement entails a continuation of all previous tariff preferences for seafood and improved market access for white fish, shrimp, and several other products,” the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.  

One of the sticking points of the negotiations was Norway wanting more access to sell seafood in the UK, while the UK wanted more access to sell agricultural products like cheese.

The latter was a problem due to Norway having import protection against agricultural goods. 

“This agreement secures Norwegian jobs and value creation and marks an important step forward in our relationship with the UK after Brexit. This is a long-term agreement, which at the same time helps to accelerate the Norwegian economy,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement.  

 The United Kingdom is Norway’s second most important single market, after the EU. In 2020 Norwegian companies exported goods worth 135 billion kroner to the UK and imported around 42 billion kroner of goods from the UK. 

Norway has given Britain 26 quotas on agricultural products, but not for mutton and beef. The agreement does not increase the UK’s cheese quotas, state broadcaster NRK have reported. 

The agreement will still need to be signed by both the Norwegian and UK parliament. 

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