The case

Switzerland has long been regarded as a country of sound public finances, fiscal discipline and personal responsibility.

Source: NZZ-Standpunkte. SRF Erstausstrahlung – 30.08.2026 – 13:00 Uhr ERIC GUJER Chefredaktor der «Neuen Zürcher Zeitung» und Prof. Dr. Christoph A. Schaltegger. Instituts für Schweizer Wirtschaftspolitik (IWP) der Universität Luzern & IWP 03.Juni 2026 

The commentary

And it is this reputation that has increasingly been put to the test. The Swiss Confederation now spends almost CHF 50 billion a year on subsidies. According to the Institute for Swiss Economic Policy (IWP), the figure reached CHF 48.6 billion in 2025, which is the equivalent to around 60 % of the federal expenditure and roughly 6 % of the country’s GDP. These funds do not go solely to private beneficiaries, but they also support cantons, universities, public transport as well as agriculture. SBB alone has received around CHF 2.4 billion, while agriculture has been paid around CHF 2.8 billion.

The issue is not about the subsidies themselves, but their growing permanence. Once introduced, they are notoriously difficult to dismantle. Prof. Christoph A. Schaltegger argues for greater transparency and regular scrutiny, i.e. one ought to inquire who receives public money, for what purpose and whether the spending actually delivers a meaningful public benefit.

Since 2015, subsidies have increased in real terms by around CHF 9 billion. The debt brake does not address this underlying issue, as it solely limits the government borrowing money, but it does not prevent inefficient or poorly targeted spending.

According to the report the real question is not about whether Switzerland can afford to spend CHF 50 billion on subsidies as for the time being it is in a position to do so. The more important question is whether one should keep up subsidising as has been done and which of these billions create genuine public value and which ones have simply been paid because their beneficiaries are well organised and politically influential because this is the point at which legitimate public support risks turning into clientelism and an ever-expanding culture of state dependency.