By Neil MacLucas

ZURICH--The Swiss government on Thursday lowered its forecast for gross domestic product growth next year due to the sluggish performance of economies in the eurozone, the Alpine country's key export market.

The government said, however, that while there is uncertainty about the outlook for global growth, the Swiss economy remains on a "solid path" and kept its forecast for GDP expansion this year unchanged.

Swiss GDP will expand 1.8% this year, the government agency Seco said, unchanged from its October estimate. Expansion next year will reach 2.1%, below its earlier forecast of 2.4%.

The Swiss unemployment rate is likely to average 3.2% this year, unchanged from its previous forecast, falling to 3% in 2015, down from the previous projection of 3.1%, Seco said.

The consumer price index is likely to be flat this year, compared with the 0.1% rise forecast in October and will rise an average 0.2% in 2015 compared with the previous 0.4% forecast.

-Write to Neil MacLucas at neil.maclucas@wsj.com