SNB’s Jordan Says Swiss Situation Is Balanced, Not Expansionary

Bastian Benrath
·1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland’s monetary-policy stance is balanced and doesn’t stimulate the economy, according to Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan.

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“We have a relatively balanced situation,” he told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “The inflation forecast is going slightly down over time, but not dramatically. We have also a situation where growth is at 1%, hopefully will improve to 1.5% next year. So this is a relatively balanced, modest growth situation, but not that we are here in an expansionary situation.”

The SNB earlier in the day lowered borrowing costs at a second straight meeting, a decision that surprised most economists, and wasn’t fully priced in by markets.

Jordan cited the strong franc as one of the reasons for the move, as the currency was boosted by French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call snap parliamentary elections.

The recent move in the exchange rate “is clearly related to the uncertainty in Europe,” Jordan said, though he sidestepped a question on whether SNB is intervening to contain the franc.

“Well, the main instrument that we have is our SNB policy rate,” he said. “But we clearly said that we are ready to use interventions in both direction if necessary in order to maintain appropriate monetary conditions.”

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