Swiss National Bank (SNB) - Monetary policy

Monetary policy strategy

The SNB’s monetary policy strategy consists of three elements. Firstly, the SNB states how it defines price stability. Secondly, it bases its monetary policy decisions on a medium-term inflation forecast. Thirdly, it sets an operational target range for its chosen 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 since 2013

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 policy up to 2012

The published monetary policy assessments from previous years (as summarised in the Annual Report) are available online.

Monetary statistics

Monetary statistics present the development of reference interest rates, exchange rates 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.