Worries about the global economy and about government debt in the euro zone and the US have prompted investors to seek a safe haven in the franc, making Swiss exports more expensive and putting corporate profits under pressure.

With Switzerland holding national polls on Oct. 23, politicians across the spectrum have urged the government to act, saying joblessness could rise.

The Swiss government on Aug. 17 announced plans to cushion the economy with a package of up to 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion), and since then the franc has fallen nearly 10 percent.

But a fresh bout of worries about debts in the euro zone could lead to another rally in the franc.

“We’ll have to keep living with the strong franc for some time. It must be a combination of measures that will lead us into the future,” Economy Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said.

“The situation is still difficult,” he said, adding that purchasing power parity in euro/Swiss lay at around 1.35 francs per euro.

“The franc is still massively overvalued.”

With the franc threatening to throttle economic growth in coming months, calls have risen on the Swiss National Bank to intervene in the spot currency market, as it did during the financial crisis.

Schneider-Ammann stressed that monetary policy was solely the responsibility of the central bank.

“Only the SNB can have a short-term impact on the franc,” Schneider-Ammann said. 

To ease the franc pain, the government on Wednesday laid out an initial package of 870 million francs, to be spent on boosting funding for unemployment insurance and other steps.

The measures will also include an allotment of 100 million francs to offset a credit crunch in the hotel sector and 213 million for fostering sciences and technology. 

The plan will be presented to parliament in the autumn session.

A second package, which is expected to come before parliament in the winter, focuses on long-term investments in research, education and infrastructure.

The Swiss authorities have so far resisted calls to take more drastic steps such as capital controls or implementing a tax on offshore deposits.

Labor unions and political parties — among them the Social Democrats and Greens — criticized the 870 million franc package as too meagre.

The association Employes Suisse said the plan would take some time to have an effect and would only indirectly support exporters.

“The exporting industry is suffering from a strong migraine and the federal council is distributing pills against headaches that work in the medium term,” it said.