Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Swiss National Bank Intensifies Swiss Franc Measures

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) made an additional announcement on measures to halt a strong Swiss franc (CHF), but did not mention a potential Euro currency-peg as rumored.  The SNB said "the Swiss franc remains massively overvalued" and "it aims to expand banks' sight deposits at the SNB further, from CHF 120 billion to CHF 200 billion.  In order to achieve this new target level as quickly as possible, it will continue to repurchase outstanding SNB Bills and to employ foreign exchange swaps".  The SNB also noted it if necessary it will "take further measures against the strength of the Swiss franc".

At its most recent monetary policy meeting in June this year the Swiss National Bank maintained its main interest rate at 0.25%.  The Bank is forecasting inflation of 0.9% during 2011, while 2012 inflation is expected at 1% and 1.7% in 2013.  The CHF last traded around 0.78 against the USD, with the CHF surging almost 2 cents against the USD as market participants expected stronger measures, such as a temporary currency peg, however the exchange rate has come back since trading as low as 0.72 during the S&P US downgrade and ECB-SMP micro-panic.  The SNB also previously announced a series of moves on the 10th and 3rd of August aimed at limiting gains in the CHF.

1 comment:

  1. They have to ensure that the policies are in order. This will allow the currency to be adjusted.

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