Thomas Jordan: Swiss monetary policy decision and the assessment of the economic situation

Introductory remarks by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Media News Conference of the Swiss National Bank, Berne, 15 December 2016.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
19 December 2016

Ladies and gentlemen

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Swiss National Bank's news conference. I will begin by explaining our monetary policy decision and our assessment of the economic situation. I will then hand over to Fritz Zurbrügg, who will speak about current developments in the area of financial stability and announce the dates for the release of the new 20-franc banknote. After that, Andréa Maechler will review the situation on the financial markets and discuss the impact of negative interest on the money and capital markets. Finally, we will - as ever - be pleased to take your questions.

Monetary policy decision

Let me begin with our monetary policy decision and the inflation forecast. Our monetary policy remains expansionary and continues to be based on two elements: the negative interest rate and our willingness to intervene in the foreign exchange market. We are leaving interest on sight deposits at the SNB at -0.75% and the target range for the threemonth Libor will remain unchanged at between -1.25% and -0.25%. At the same time, we will remain active in the foreign exchange market as necessary, while taking the overall currency situation into consideration.