Communicating Policy Options at the Zero Bound

Lukas Burkhard and Andreas M. Fischer

Issue
2007-12

Pages
43

JEL classification
F31, E58

Keywords
Exchange Rate, Central Bank Communication, Zero Bound

Year
2007

This paper examines a special episode in communication practices of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) when short-term interest rates reached the zero bound. A particular feature of SNB communication policy at the time was to talk openly about alternative policy instruments despite the fact that they were never implemented. Non-sterilized FX interventions were frequently mentioned as a potential instrument. We ask how did financial markets respond to the SNBs repeated references of non-sterilized interventions? The empirical results with high frequency data provide strong evidence that SNB intervention references depreciated the domestic currency for several hours. The case study supports the view that communication is an effective tool for monetary policy.