Investing.com - The Swiss National Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at record-low levels on Thursday and said it will remain active in the foreign exchange market as necessary.
In a statement, the SNB said it was keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at -0.75%, in line with expectations. The central bank also left the target range for the three-month Libor unchanged at between -1.25% and -0.25%.
The accompanying rate statement released after the announcement said that the Swiss franc “remains highly valued," even though it has weakened further against the euro and also, more recently, against the U.S. dollar.
The new conditional inflation forecast was slightly higher compared to the June forecast. For the current year, the SNB expects inflation of 0.5%, up from 0.4% in the previous quarter. For 2018, the SNB expects inflation of 0.7%, up from the previous estimate of 0.4%, while for 2019, the inflation forecast remains unchanged at 1.1%.
In the third quarter, the Swiss economy posted growth of 2.5% on an annualized basis. Overall, the recovery in the Swiss economy is set to continue in the coming months, according to the SNB. For 2018, the central bank expects GDP growth of around 2%, compared to 1% in 2017.
EUR/CHF was trading at 1.1673 from around 1.671 ahead of the decision, while USD/CHF was at 0.9865 from 0.9860 earlier.