Is there a cost of living crisis in Switzerland?
The 2024 edition of the gfs.bern’s opinion poll “How are you, Switzerland?” found that a third of Swiss residents and Swiss people living abroad feel financially insecure. The percentage of those who say their situation is stressful went from 31% in 2023 to 35% in 2024. There is also a clear regional difference in financial security, as 59% of respondents from Ticino claimed facing financial stress. This was a huge increase from 2023, where less than 50% of people in Ticino were stressed by their financial situation. However, the general sentiment surrounding financial instability is less concerning, with 46% being somewhat worried about their household budget, and 18% showing no concern at all. A survey conducted by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation also showed a lot of concern for social issues, as 79% of people believe the wealth gap in Switzerland is too large and 88% agreed that the goal of homeownership is out of reach for most young Swiss.
The reason for the growing concern of financial instability is no doubt caused by the rising cost of living in Switzerland in recent years. Purchasing power in Switzerland has now become a major political issue. What started with an increase in energy prices has now expanded to more expensive food, rent and health insurance premiums. Analysts believe that the declining purchasing power is the cause of recent setbacks for the centre-right majority in Swiss Parliament, as well as the business community. For example, Swiss voters approved a left-wing initiative in the spring of 2024, creating a 13th monthly pension payment. Switzerland’s official “Price Watchdog”, Stefan Meierhans, has organized summits with business and consumer protection organizations in order to find purchasing power strengthening measures. However, the gfs.bern opinion poll also found that most people have only heard about these increasing financial difficulties in political debates, and have not really experienced them firsthand.
Switzerland does seem to be becoming more socially minded, however, as an initiative by Young Socialists proposed a 50% tax on inheritances worth more than 50 million Swiss francs. This caused a lot of controversy in the summer of 2024, as Swiss entrepreneurs threatened to relocate if the Socialists’ initiative was accepted. On the other hand, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s poll showed that 69% of people somewhat or fully support increasing wealth tax in Switzerland. 72% of the respondents were also in favor of a sharing economy, where people share their household items with other people in order to save money. Amid the slowly growing concerns about the cost of living in Switzerland, it seems that many are becoming more open to socially-minded policies.
Brazil cracks down on major money laundering scheme
In late August of 2025, the Brazilian government began it’s largest operation against organized crime, targeting a multibillion US dollar money laundering racket allegedly orchestrated by the PCC Cartel. The operation, known as “Hidden Carbon”, involved raids across eight different Brazilian states carried out by 1400 agents. Search and seizure warrants were carried out against a total of 350 individuals and businesses, as well as an attempt to freeze around 1 billion Brazilian real of their compiled assets. The money laundering scheme involved oil products being imported, formulated, and distributed with illicit funds through over a thousand gas stations in Brazil, generating around 52 billion Brazilian real in laundering transactions.
These laundered profits were then invested through 40 cartel-run investment firms, as well as several fintech companies, one of which acted as a “shadow bank” and moved around 46 billion Brazilian real in the span of four years. The assets acquired with the illicit funds include four ethanol production plants, a port terminal, farms, and over a hundred fuel trucks. The offices of Brazilian asset manager Reag Capital were raided in connection with the scheme, and their stock price has since dropped by 17 percent on the São Paulo Stock Exchange. Other companies being investigated are Brazilian fuel companies Copape and Aster, as well as the payments fintech company BK Bank. In the last decade, the PCC cartel have gone from being solely narcotics traffickers to having hands in sectors such as public transport and illegal gold mining. The size of this money laundering operation highlights how cartels across Latin America have penetrated deeply into the legal economy in recent years.
