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Monetary policy

Monetary policy strategy

The mandate of the SNB is to ensure price stability and, in doing so, to take account of economic developments. The SNB’s monetary policy strategy consists of three elements: a definition of price stability, a medium-term inflation forecast and, at the operational level, a target range for a reference interest rate, the three-month Libor.

Monetary policy implementation

The SNB conducts its monetary policy by steering the interest rate level in the Swiss franc money market. To this end, it uses the three-month Libor. Both the regular and the other monetary policy instruments are described in the Guidelines of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Monetary Policy Instruments

Monetary policy by year

The SNB conducts an in-depth monetary policy assessment in March, June, September and December. Each of these assessments results in an interest rate decision and the publication of a medium-term conditional inflation forecast. The SNB sets out the reasons for its decisions in a press release and in a quarterly monetary policy report published in the Quarterly Bulletin.

Monetary statistics

Monetary statistics present the development of interest rates, exchange rates, the target range and monetary aggregates in graph and tabular form. Detailed monetary statistics can be found in the Economic Data (SNB data portal) of the Swiss National Bank.