Federal Statistical Office must restrict services
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is having to cut back on services due to budget constraints. In order to continue fulfilling its mandate and at the same time balance the budget, a savings programme has been drawn up, the Federal Statistical Office announced.
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The cost-cutting measures adopted by Parliament in recent years will impact the budget of the FSO by a total of CHF7.4 million ($8.2 million) in 2024 and 2025, according to a press release issued on Friday. This is based on an annual budget of around CHF180 million.
Furthermore, additional, unfunded tasks have been transferred to the FSO in recent years. These have resulted in costs totaling CHF13 million per year. At the same time, the structural deficit has risen as a result of the sharp increase in expenditure, particularly in the IT sector.
The savings program that has been drawn up therefore includes a series of internal measures that the Office has already implemented – including the waiving of salary adjustments, the restriction of new hires, cuts in procurement and the discontinuation of certain statistical publications. However, further measures are still necessary that will have an impact on the FSO’s services, the statement continued.
Adapted from German by DeepL/jdp
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