Inflation in Switzerland

Have you noticed higher prices? I’ve stumbled across this TA article, where a writer compares her groceries at Coop. She’s paying a whopping 8.4% more than she did 2 years ago.

So the official story of 3% inflation might not help much to assess individual effects of inflation.

If you look at your personal expenditures, provided they haven’t changed much in the past two years (no additional frugalism), have you noticed an increase?

3% inflation (which is usually expressed p.a.) compounds over years :slight_smile:

Coop might be on the upper range of prices and their changes too.

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Inflation is at 4.4% for the last 2 years (2021/2022). What‘s interesting: 5.3% for 2002-2020.

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We have noticed some products increased in price at Lidl, but our overall basket did not change much. One example is that the eggs we were buying doubled in price. Other small increases were also seen but nothing really significant for us.

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I’ll definitely have a closer look at Lidl then :+1::smile: We’re doing our groceries at Migros and had the impression we’re paying at least 10% more for our weekly groceries (we’re always buying practically the same things as per our Migros online-shop grocery list, this enables great price comparisons).

That Warenkorb can’t even feed her (where are the proteins?), let alone cover her hygiene and house maintenance needs, and those are but a part of any personal budget.

Each of us experiences a different inflation rate but I would be very wary of singular anecdotal data, which is why I guess you are posting here. I have not kept track of my expenses last year but some of the things I buy have gone up by more than 10%, and others have gone up way less. Since I’m switching out the products I find too expensive, a 1:1 comparison would be difficult for me.

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One important point is that inflation is composed by different elements (renting, food, transportation l, petrol, etc.)

Sometime a category moves faster but overall it’s not the largest % in total spending basket.

So it’s possible that food prices are growing faster but rent is flat, and so on

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It really depends on your spending habits. I’ve seen noticeable changes in the costs of used cars, restaurants and take-aways, electricity, insurance, eggs, butter, cooking oil, and junk food.

Public transportation has also gotten more expensive, but that’s been happening for some years now. New home rentals are more expensive now, but that’s also been a long-term development. Luckily my landlord has not yet raised my rent, although he could.

Categories in which I have noticed deflation are telecom, banking/investing, and certain groceries.

My overall spending has not increased though, which probably has to do with my lifestyle habits. In fact I spend less now than I did 5 years ago.

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Here is some more anecdotal data about food inflation for basic items.
Unfortunately very incomplete: e.g. Spaghetti from store Y are missing.

X X X Y Y
Spaghetti Penne Nature Chips Farine Lait
1 kg 1 kg 350 g 1 kg 1 litre
06.05.2021 0.90 0.85 3.25 0.89 1.29
07.10.2021 0.90 0.85 3.25 0.89 1.29
20.01.2022 1.10 1.10 3.25 0.89 1.29
25.07.2022 1.20 1.30 3.25 0.89 1.29
01.09.2022 1.40 1.40 3.25 0.89 1.35
06.10.2022 1.40 1.40 3.45 0.89 1.35
20.10.2022 1.40 1.40 3.50 0.89 1.35
14.01.2023 1.40 1.40 3.70 0.89 1.39
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Oh I love spaghetti from store X. I used to buy them all the time. Best “suction” on non-brand spaghetti.

Nature chips from shop X are also good. They have from time to time 50% discount on the big bag. Which used to bey 500g, now it’s 400 or less.

Shrinkflation is a thing in switzerland now…

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Did you sign a non disclosure agreement or why don’t you tell the names of the shops?

This data is anecdotal and not even representative of the whole assortment of store X or Y. For instance some “mustachian” products of store X used perhaps to be subsidized by other products and are not anymore subsidized.

For a better data source: the Federal Statistical Office publishes a food inflation index which can be found here: Switzerland Food Inflation - January 2023 Data - 1983-2022 Historical