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The corona pandemic has left lasting marks in the fitness center of Claude Ammann (56) in Zuchwil SO. Things are far from pre-crisis levels, says de Solothurn, who is president of the Fitness and Health Centers Association. On average, only eight to nine of the ten customers returned.
Ammann is therefore pleased to continue to count on support from the federal government. Like more than 100,000 other companies, he is still on Covid loan. In total, companies have borrowed CHF 9.4 billion from the federal government.
Suddenly interest is due
Ammann has not yet had to pay interest on it. Last week, however, the Bundesrat decided to change that. Loans up to CHF 500,000 are now subject to 1.5 percent interest. Interest was already paid on loans of more than half a million, but only at 0.5 percent. On March 31, interest rates rose to 2 percent.
The Bundesrat has the right to adjust interest rates once a year. But what annoys the affected companies: neither the federal government nor the bank informed them of the change in advance. Several companies confirm to Blick that they were only informed about the sudden interest rates through the media and more by chance. Apparently, some banks are only now, a week after the increase, starting to inform their customers about this.
Raiffeisen, for example, reports that it was given final notice of the rate hike by the federal government at the same time as the general public. Affected business customers will be informed “in the coming days”. The Zürcher Kantonalbank, on the other hand, writes that it had already informed you last week.
“This is insensitive from the Bundesrat”
Trade association director Hans-Ulrich Bigler (65) finds the procedure “disgusting”. But it bothers him even more that the Bundesrat even comes up with the idea of raising interest rates. “This is insensitive from the Federal Council.” Finally, former Finance Minister Ueli Maurer (72) stated in the autumn of 2020 that the interests of SMEs weigh more heavily than those of the banks when setting the interest rate.
Fitness operator Ammann also feels fooled. “That is a slap in the face of the Federal Council,” he says angrily. In its statement last week, the federal government wrote that the interest rate adjustment provided “an incentive not to claim Covid 19 loans longer than necessary”. Ammann finds it cynical to exert pressure in this way. No one has an interest in holding the loan longer than necessary.
The federal government shifts responsibility to the banks and the national bank
The federal government refers to the law when requested. It states that the Finance Department can adjust interest rates annually on March 31. Because the key interest rate was raised, it was decided to raise interest rates. “The relatively late timing of the decision and publication is due to the announcement of the new key interest rate by the Swiss National Bank on March 23.”
The Swiss Bankers Association informed the banks about the interest rate increase. “We don’t know how the banks have organized themselves internally to inform both their corporate client advisors and their customers.”
Billions for CS, stingy with the trade
Particularly annoying is the fact that the Federal Council took the interest rate decision after it was only just ready to talk about CHF 200 billion to bail out Credit Suisse.
“It seems that the Federal Council has lost touch with the industry in Switzerland and does not know what its decisions mean for small and medium-sized companies,” Ammann says.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
