The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will hold an interest rate announcement press conference on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland.
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The Swiss National Bank surprised the market on Thursday by deciding to cut its main policy interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.5%, and said the country’s inflation rate is likely to remain below 2% for the foreseeable future.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the SNB to keep interest rates at 1.75%.
The bank said: “Inflation has been back below 2% for several months and is therefore within the range that the SNB considers prices to be stable. According to new forecasts, inflation is also likely to remain within this range in the coming years. .” Switzerland’s inflation rate continued to fall in February, reaching 1.2%.
Switzerland is the first developed economy to cut interest rates after a long period of high inflationary pressures, exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global trade and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The SNB announcement comes ahead of monetary policy decisions from the Bank of England and Norges Bank later on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady after its March meeting and reiterated expectations for three rate cuts in 2024.
This breaking news story is being updated.
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