He Swiss National Bank (SNB) fulfilled this Thursday with the forecasts and increased the official interest rate by 0.5 percentage points until reaching 1.5% for “counter the new increase in inflationary pressures“.
Furthermore, they added that it cannot be ruled out that new increases are necessary of the official interest rate to guarantee the price stability in the medium term.
Following the announcement, the Swiss franc rose 0.2% to $0.9155.
Furthermore, the SNB stated that, in order to provide appropriate monetary conditions, is also willing to intervene in the foreign exchange market when necessary. For some quarters, attention has been focused on the sale of foreign currency, he added.
The change in the official interest rate of the SNB will apply from March 24, 2023.
Refering to inflationthe body emphasizes that has risen again since the beginning of the year, standing at 3.4% in February. The latest increase is mainly due to the increase in the prices of the electricity, tourist services and food.
“However, the increase in prices is now widespread. The news forecasts they place average annual inflation at 2.6% for 2023 and 2% for 2024″, he stated. “Without today’s rate hike, forecast inflation would be even higher in the medium term”, he added.
He Swiss GDP stagnated in the fourth quarter. The sector services lost momentum and value added in the manufacturing sector fell slightly again. In 2022 as a whole, GDP grew by 2.1%. He working marketFor its part, it remained “solid” and global production capacity has been well utilized, the bank has said.
“Despite the slight rebound in economic activity in recent months, growth is likely to remain modest for the remainder of the year“, has anticipated the Swiss National Bank.
Credit Suisse
Regarding the Credit Suisse crisis, the Swiss National Bank maintains in his statement that the announced measures at the end of last week by the federal government, Finma and the SNB itself “they have put an end to the crisis”. “The SNB is providing large amounts of liquidity in Swiss francs and foreign currencies. These loans are backed by collateral and subject to interest,” he said.
Last week Switzerland’s second largest bank was at the center of the financial discussion as it had to be assisted by the SNB following a collapse in its deposits and shares after its main creditor, the Saudi National Bank, said that I would not transfer more funds after knowing the bad balance of the fourth quarter of 2022.
The intervention of the SNB was not enough for the market and the main Swiss bank, the UBS bought its former competitor.
Source: Ambito
