The Swiss franc is too low against the euro and its continued weakness could trigger more interest rate rises, the head of the Swiss National Bank has warned.
This content was published on
1 minute
“We are really concerned if [it] loses further value,” said the institution’s chairman Jean-Pierre Roth on Wednesday in St Gallen
“A lasting tendency towards weakness of the Swiss franc could trigger inflationary effects. We know that we would have to meet such a development with interest rate policy sooner or later,” he added.
The currency has recovered somewhat from a record low in October versus the euro but is still hovering around SFr1.66 franc per euro, down some three per cent this year.
In real terms, the franc has lost about 14 per cent since the euro’s introduction in 2002 according to Roth.
When the national bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75 per cent last week, it said its price outlook had improved, forecasting inflation would ease to an average of 1.5 per cent in 2009 after a spike due to higher oil prices in 2008.
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.
Read more
More
Swiss economy “can weather credit crisis”
This content was published on
But the Swiss Business Federation, economiesuisse, has repeated calls for economic reforms, in particular a reduction of tax on share dividends, to improve Switzerland’s competitiveness. Announcing its 2008 forecast in Zurich on Friday, economiesuisse said strong exports and consumer spending would drive economic growth to 2.7 per cent by the end of the year –…
This content was published on
A weak dollar, sparked by the poor health of the United States economy, should keep the price of goods in the high street down despite rising oil prices and expensive European imports, economists believe. This positive impact of the dollar’s fall from grace is widely predicted to outweigh negative consequences for Switzerland’s export industry and…
This content was published on
Inflation rose 0.9 per cent compared with September, driven by a rise in prices for clothes and shoes, figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Friday. The Statistics Office said in a statement that it expected annual inflation, which was 0.7 per cent in September, to average out at 0.7 per cent this year,…
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.