The Swiss National Bank believes that the Swiss franc's rise above parity versus the euro is unlikely to have a significant impact on the economy, Chairman Thomas Jordan said in an interview on Saturday.
The Swiss currency has risen as investors have sought safe-haven assets during the Ukraine war. It went above 1 franc to 1 euro earlier this month before falling to around 1.02 francs to the euro. Jordan told Swiss radio station SRF that it was not important from an economic perspective, if the franc rose above parity was a level that the central bank would fight.
We don't give any predictions of where the exchange rate will go, but what is important is that we don't just look at the euro, but all currencies together. That's very important, and also the inflation differences. He said that higher inflation outside Switzerland had reduced the impact of the stronger franc, with Swiss businesses generally coping well with the currency's higher valuation.
The Swiss inflation has picked up to 2.2%, its highest level since 2008, but remains low compared to the United States and Europe, Jordan said.
In its latest update on Thursday, the SNB kept interest rates at minus 0.75%, but doubled its inflation forecast for this year.
Jordan said that the central bank would continue to watch inflation closely and monitor the exchange rate, as well as to watch the exchange rate.
The franc is highly valued. Jordan said that it is the reason why we remain ready to intervene on the currency markets to prevent the franc becoming too strong.