Switzerland’s economy shrank the most in six years as the strong franc took its toll on exports. Gross domestic product fell 0.2% in the first quarter, after a revised growth of 0.5% in the previous three months, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern said in a statement on Thursday, Bloomberg reported. The contraction is the biggest since early 2009 and missed the median economist forecast for stagnation. With the franc still overvalued, according to the Swiss National Bank, the risk is that the weakness persists. The data also hands ammunition the central bank’s critics, who say its January decision to give up the cap versus the euro is jeopardizing the economy.
