Public matching payments for commercial rent abatements during the Covid crisis

Executive summary

In order (a) to further strengthen the resilience of the Swiss economy during the pandemic, and (b) to unblock the current deadlock between tenant and landlord lobbies, public matching payments on rent abatements for commercial tenants offer an economically attractive solution. Matching payments “grease” landlord-tenant negotiations and would serve as a relatively low-cost policy intervention to internalize apotentially importantexternality.