The Swiss National Bank on Thursday raised its benchmark policy rate for the third time of this year, bringing it up to 1%.
The inflation in the country is still well above the Swiss National Bank’s target of 0-2%.Last month, Switzerland’s inflation rate remained steady at 3%, which was a drop from 3.5% in August, a three-decade high.
The central bank’s 50 basis point hike on Thursday came after an unexpected raise for the first time in 15 years in June that took the benchmark up from -0.75% to -0.25%. The policy rate entered a positive territory in September after a 75 bps hike by the Swiss bank.
Charlotte de Montpellier, senior economist at ING, said that the Swiss National Bank’s increased a total of 175 basis points in 2022 was less than an average for the eurozone. The firm expected 250 bps hike for eurozone and 425 bps for the U.S.
