SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said yesterday, at the moment, ” foreign exchange interventions are very important because we have seen great pressure on the franc, especially in the COVID crisis.” Over CHF 100B was spent on intervention in the first nine months of 2020, to curb the surge in the safe haven currency.
Jordan was bother by US designation of Switzerland as a currency manipulator. He insisted that Switzerland was “anything but a currency manipulator” as he pointed to the appreciation of the Franc over the last 12 years, and persistently low inflation. Also, “this designation by the Americans will have no influence on our monetary policy.”
“We have to … pursue a sensible monetary policy in the overall interest of the country,” Jordan added. “At the moment, unfortunately, that means that these interest rates are very low. As soon as possible, we will raise interest rates.”
