Canton of Friborg Spends 345 Million Francs to Support COVID-19 Pandemic Relief

The canton of Friborg spent around 345 million francs in the form of support during the Covid pandemic between 2020 and 2022. The sum comes from a report requested by the Finance and Audit Commission of the Grand Council.

Two thirds, 231 million francs, were borne by the canton, the rest came primarily from contributions from the federal government, as the report shows. The federal government’s measures to benefit the Freiburg economy included 425 million francs for the income compensation scheme (EO) and short-time work compensation (KAE).

The short-time work affected more than 166,000 employees in over 5,100 Freiburg companies, which led to a total loss of 14 million working hours, it is said. The canton’s companies also took out Covid loans worth 575 million francs, which corresponds to 3.4 percent of all loans granted in Switzerland.

Of the 345 million francs, almost 188 million were spent on emergency measures, hardship cases and the economic stimulus program. 79.9 million francs went to the hospitals, while 46.7 million francs went to the cantonal management body (KFO) and the health task force.

According to the State Council, the canton of Friborg has proven to be “resilient and resilient” during the crisis: after a peak of 3.8 percent, the unemployment rate quickly fell back to its previous level.

The decline in Freiburg’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 was 1.6 percent, which was less than the Swiss average (2.5 percent).