ZURICH, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank held interest rates steady on Thursday and stuck to its pledge to fight an appreciation of the Swiss franc decisively as uncertainties about the recent economic recovery remained high. The central bank said after its quarterly policy meeting that its target band for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR will remain at 0.00-0.75 percent. It will continue to aim to keep the LIBOR at 0.25 percent.
All 41 economists polled by Reuters had expected the central bank to leave rates unchanged and a large majority had seen the SNB continuing its foreign exchange market intervention policy. The SNB adopted a set of drastic measures in March to fight the deepest recession in Switzerland in over three decades.
However, the Alpine economy has emerged less bruised than many of its peers from the global crisis despite its large banking sector, growing by 0.3 percent in the third quarter. (Reporting by Sven Egenter, editing by Mike Peacock)