It did not specify how much investment would increase. Switzerland emerged from the worst recession in decades in the third quarter of last year and the Swiss National Bank has said it expected the economy to post growth of 0.5 to 1.5 percent this year.
The KOF, which polled more than 6,000 private companies in November and December, said service companies were planning significantly more investment and thanks to government spending plans, the building sector also planned to increase their purchases of equipment. "Clearly, the biggest barriers to investment in the current year are uncertainties about sales and declining earnings," the institute said. "Inability to secure financing is a concern only for a relatively small number of companies."