Swiss central bank cuts interest rate by 0.25%
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening:
Swiss central bank cuts interest rate by 0.25%
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has cut interest rates by 0.25%, lowering the policy rate to 1% from the previous target of 1.25%.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
The SNB explained in a communiqué on Thursday that inflationary pressure in Switzerland had once again fallen significantly compared to the previous quarter. The Swiss interest rate adjustment follows a 0.5% cut by the United States Federal Reserve last week.
+ Read why home ownership remains a mirage in Switzerland
Further interest rate cuts may be necessary in the coming quarters in order to ensure price stability in the medium term, said the central bank of Thursday. The Swiss central bank has reduced its inflation forecast to 1.2% this year and 0.6% in 2025, which is lower than the 1.3% and 1.1% predictions in June.
At the same time, the SNB is still prepared to be active on the foreign exchange market if necessary to defend the Swiss franc against appreciation.
+ How Switzerland dealt with rising consumer prices
“[GDP] Growth is likely to remain rather modest in Switzerland in the coming quarters due to the recent appreciation of the Swiss franc and the moderate development of the global economy,” the SNB stated, as it forecast 1% economic growth this year.
The SNB had already lowered the key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points in both March and June.
More
Business lobby wants SNB to act against strong Swiss franc
In response to rising inflation, the central bank had previously raised the key interest rate from -0.75% to 1.75% in just five steps from June 2022 and then left it unchanged twice.
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.