The Swiss National Bank has announced it will be leaving its policy rate unchanged at 1.75 percent, contrary to expectations of a further increase to two percent.
Commenting on the decision, the Swiss National Bank said: “The significant tightening of monetary policy over recent quarters is countering remaining inflationary pressure. From today’s perspective, it cannot be ruled out that a further tightening of monetary policy may become necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term.”
Meanwhile, Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, and Norway’s Norges Bank have lifted interest rates by 0.25 percent.
The Riksbank’s new policy rate now stands at four percent, while Norges Bank’s rate is 4.2 percent.
Sweden’s Riksbank said: “Developments are thus going in the right direction, but inflationary pressures in the Swedish economy are still too high.
“For inflation to fall back and stabilise around the target of two percent within a reasonable period of time, the Executive Board has therefore decided to raise the policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to four percent. The forecast for the policy rate indicates that it could be raised further.”
Ida Wolden Bache, the governor of Norges Bank, commented: “Whether additional tightening will be needed depends on economic developments. There will likely be one additional policy rate hike, most probably in December.”
