rate: 2% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$26,400 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 31.1%
services: 66.1% (1995)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 28.6% (1982)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0% (1998)

Labor force: 3.8 million (850,000 foreign workers, mostly Italian)

Labor force--by occupation: services 67%, manufacturing and
construction 29%, agriculture and forestry 4% (1995)

Unemployment rate: 3.6% (1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $32.66 billion
expenditures: $34.89 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.3
billion (1998 est.)

Industries: machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision
instruments

Industrial production growth rate: 6% (1998 est.)

Electricity--production: 54.815 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 3.99%
hydro: 52.73%
nuclear: 43.27%
other: 0.01% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 53.765 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 24.2 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 23.15 billion kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs

Exports: $94.4 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports--commodities: machinery 29%, chemicals 28%, metals,
watches, agricultural products (1997)

Exports--partners: EU 61% (Germany 23%, France 9%, Italy 8%, UK
6%, Austria 3%), US 10%, Japan 4% (1997)

Imports: $95.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports--commodities: machinery 22%, chemicals 16%, vehicles,
metals, agricultural products, textiles (1997)

Imports--partners: EU 79% (Germany 32%, France 12%, Italy 10%,
Netherlands 5%, UK 5%),, US 7%, Japan 3% (1997)

Debt--external: $NA

Economic aid--donor: ODA, $1.1 billion (1995)

Currency: 1 Swiss franc, franken, or franco (SFR) = 100 centimes,
rappen, or centesimi

Exchange rates: Swiss francs, franken, or franchi (SFR) per
US$1--1.3837 (January 1999), 1.4498 (1998), 1.4513 (1997), 1.2360
(1996), 1.1825 (1995), 1.3677 (1994)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Telephones: 5.24 million (1996 est.); 307,000 cellular telephone
subscribers (1994 est.)

Telephone system: excellent domestic and international services
domestic: extensive cable and microwave radio relay networks
international: satellite earth stations--2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean
and Indian Ocean)