SNB’s Schlegel Stresses Higher Willingness on FX Interventions

(Bloomberg) — The Swiss National Bank is more willing than usual to step into markets to ensure price stability amid higher energy prices, according to President Martin Schlegel.

“The SNB has an elevated willingness to intervene in FX markets to ensure price stability,” he told Swiss broadcaster SRF on Friday.

Still, the central bank chief stressed that he sees the current inflation spike in Switzerland as a temporary phenomenon, stressing that “inflation is in short term a little higher, but in the medium term virtually unchanged.”

Growth will be subdued this year, while in 2027 the SNB expects a recovery, he added, speaking from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington.

Schlegel’s remarks echo the current standard stance the central bank has taken amid the Iran war, highlighting increased readiness for interventions while stressing that consumer-price growth remains in line with price stability.

The SNB cut borrowing costs to zero in June and has kept them there since. After a surge in the franc during the first attacks drove speculation on a return of negative rates, rising energy prices saw inflation accelerate to 0.3%, the fastest pace in a year. That rendered the prospect remote for now.

Most economists expect the SNB to leave rates unchanged until the beginning of 2028 and then to raise them, according to a Bloomberg survey.

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