Swiss govt expects unemployment payouts to triple to 20 billion francs

The Swiss government expects the cost of unemployment benefits and short-time working compensation caused by the coronavirus crisis to rise to around 20 billion Swiss francs ($20.51 billion) this year from 6 to 7 billion francs normally, an official said on Thursday.

"We will need another 14 billion in additional financing for the unemployment fund in 2020," Boris Zuercher from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said. "That's our current forecast, although I don't have a crystal ball." ($1 = 0.9753 Swiss francs)