The Swiss National Bank kept up on Thursday its drastic measures to boost the economy and fend off deflation, renewing its policy of ultra-low interest rates, bond purchases and interventions to stop the Swiss franc rising. The central bank said after its quarterly policy meeting that its target band for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR will remain at 0.00-0.75 percent. It will continue to aim to get the LIBOR down to 0.25 percent.
All economists polled by Reuters had expected the SNB to leave rates unchanged. Almost all also saw it continuing with its unconventional policy measures as the Swiss economy is just about to move out off the worst recession in over 30 years. The Swiss economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the second quarter, much less than feared by most economists. Early indicators now point to a recovery, although unemployment is still expected to rise towards post-war records. The annual drop in consumer prices has started to slow, although prices still fell 0.8 percent in August.
Comments
Comments are closed.