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Swiss July trade surplus hovers near record high

ZURICH - Switzerland's trade surplus hovered close to an all time high in July, boosted by demand for Swiss goods in emerging markets, but the economic slowdown in the United States weighed on exports, data showed on Thursday.

The Federal Customs Office said the trade surplus for July was flat from June at 2.37 billion Swiss francs ($2.17 billion).

The report is likely to cement views the Swiss National Bank will keep interest rates unchanged when it next meets in September.

Nominal exports increased 9.7 percent to 19.3 billion Swiss francs ($17.66 billion) in July, while imports rose 5.6 percent to 16.9 billion francs.

Exports rose 1 percent from June in seasonally adjusted terms. Switzerland's watchmakers posted export growth of 8.5 percent to 1.6 billion francs.

The SNB expects overall economic growth to slow to between 1.5 and 2.0 percent from 3.1 percent as the credit crisis is hitting the large banking sector and demand from industrialised countries for Swiss products is fading.