Central bank to reassess growth forecast

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will review its economic growth forecast in the next few weeks according to its vice-chairman, Philipp Hildebrand.

The central bank had set its forecast at two per cent for 2008, but Hildebrand told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that while indicators remained robust, exports and the retail trade showed signs of slowing down.

He warned in an interview published on Sunday that risks for economic growth has “undoubtedly increased.”

Hildebrand said the SNB would reconsider the forecast given that the current credit crisis went beyond the issue of American mortgages, and was affecting consumer credit, credit insurance, commercial mortgages and large leveraged loans.