ZURICH, June 1 (Reuters) – The Swiss economy grew by 0.4% in the first three months of 2026, the government said on Monday, helped by a recovery in the manufacturing sector as the burden of U.S. tariffs eased.
The figure was an acceleration from the 0.2% rate at the end of 2025 and was in line with the long-term Swiss quarterly growth rate.
The improvement was largely down to increased output from the manufacturing sector, which grew by 1.5% after several quarters of either flat or negative development.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which compiles the data, said there had been an improvement in sentiment at the beginning of the year, helped by the lower tariffs on Swiss exports to the U.S., which were reduced to 10% in January from the previous 15% charge.
“There has been an uptick in exports, especially to the U.S., though performance has varied across sectors,” said SECO economist Philipp Wegmueller.
Although economic output from the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector, which makes up 40% of Swiss manufacturing, fell, this was more than made up for by increases in other parts of manufacturing like machinery, metals, and watches.
Wegmueller said there had not been a significant slowdown in the later part of the quarter due to the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices.
“Firms are treating the current headwinds as a temporary shock,” he said. “Overall growth remains solid. Still, the environment remains subject to considerable uncertainty.”
(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Friederike Heine and Alex Richardson)
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