2024-01-19 21:44:12
For the second year in a row, the cantons and the Confederation will have to put aside the contribution of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). “It’s starting to get a little complicated,” says Valérie Dittli. Along with other finance ministers, she calls for renegotiation of the current agreement.
More “stability”: this is the message hammered out by Valérie Dittli, Vaud State Councilor in charge of Finance and Agriculture, Friday in the Forum show.
Indeed, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) closed the 2023 financial year with a loss of around 3 billion francs, and, like last year, will therefore not pay part of its profits to public authorities.
But the State of Vaud had planned a payment of 125 million francs from the BNS in its 2024 budget.
Sustainable payments
If the BNS’s announcement last week did not surprise Valérie Dittli, she notes that experiencing the same situation two years in a row, it is “starting to be complicated”.
It is not so much the amount as the sustainability of the payments that is worrying. In the past, the money distributed by the SNB fell almost with the regularity of a metronome.
In 2020, then 2021, the central bank even paid the maximum possible, i.e. 6 billion francs, to the Confederation and the cantons. But in 2022, it will suffer an abysmal loss of 132.5 billion francs.
What solutions in the future?
In the case of the canton of Vaud, Valérie Dittli notes that a solution will perhaps be to discuss with the Council of State and no longer budget for the slightest payment.
Another option would be, according to her, to “renegotiate” a new agreement with the BNS. The one currently in force covers the financial years 2020 to 2025.
The big money maker would thus like to favor an approach with “more stability”, even if “the SNB distributes a little less” for each financial year. An opinion shared by the Jura government.
“The objective of stability of payments provided for in the agreement has not been achieved. We can only regret this, because this puts us in an extremely delicate financial situation,” declared the Jura Minister of Finance, Rosalie Beuret Siess, in the weather.
A reserve that does not work
However, the current system provides for “a reserve to smooth the distribution of results”, explained Laurent Kurth, Neuchâtel State Councilor in charge of finances, on January 9 to RTS. A reserve which did not fulfill its function, since it served above all to “absorb losses”.
Despite their stated desire for change, the Latin cantons still have to convince the German-speaking people. “We are not sure that they are aligned,” explains Valérie Dittli. For them, the independence of the SNB remains essential.
The State Councilor also judges that it is “important not to intervene in the monetary policy” of the bank.
“But the German-speaking Swiss cantons (…) also want stability,” assures Valérie Dittli. “That’s the important point, stability.”
Comments collected by Renaud Malik
Adaptation web: doe
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