SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said today that negative interest rate and market intervention remains important to protect Swiss economy. And the Swiss Franc remains “highly valued”.
Jordan said “we don’t have negative interest rates because we love them, but it’s the best way to implement our monetary policy for the time being”. And, “negative rates and our willingness to intervene in the currency markets as necessary are the two pillars of our policy.”
He also added, “what would happen if the SNB increased interest rates to zero? The overall results would be much worse than it is at the moment… the instruments we have don’t please everyone, but are necessary to fulfill the mandate of the SNB.”
On US-China trade tension, he said: “Everything that is harming global trade creates a more difficult environment for us. The likelihood that Switzerland will be impacted is very big.”
