Swiss SMEs can get economic information about the countries with which they would like to trade from the information service of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
SECO’s information on countries provides an overview of the economic situation and bilateral relations of Switzerland’s main trading partners. Specifically, a data sheet containing this information has been drawn up for each State. These data sheets are available free of charge on the SECO website and are updated regularly.
Swiss companies can therefore refer to these for the basic information they need about the countries with which they would like to trade or with which they already have commercial relations.
Content of country data sheets
Each data sheet contains, in principle, the following information:
- General information. This includes: main economic indicators (GDP, inflation, unemployment, etc.); foreign trade figures (imports, exports); information about its economic situation (structure of the economy, economic policy, economic climate and main challenges); a list of the main multilateral economic organizations which the country has joined.
- Bilateral economic relations with Switzerland. This includes: economic agreements; volumes of commercial exchanges; direct investment amounts; dates of last official visits; useful addresses (chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, diplomatic representations and websites).
Other information about countries
When a country is not listed, the SECO advises companies to consult the list of sources entitled “Bilateral economic relations”, available on its website. This is a selection of free websites containing economic information by country. This includes links to the databases, by country, of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (Information on countries (SECO)).
