Business lobby wants SNB to act against strong Swiss franc
Safe haven – but a strong Swiss franc can hurt the country's exports.
Keystone / Ennio Leanza
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Business lobby wants SNB to act against strong Swiss franc
The Swiss National Bank must do something fast to keep the franc’s strength from hurting exporters, according to the country’s biggest lobby group for manufacturers.
The sudden appreciation in the currency is threatening a vulnerable recovery for overseas sales seen in recent months, Swissmem said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Swiss National Bank is called upon to act quickly within the scope of its mandate,” it said. “The SNB has the leeway to prevent or cushion any future shock appreciation using the instruments it considers best.”
The group didn’t offer a view on what tools the central bank should deploy. While Swiss officials previously used currency interventions to keep a lid on the franc, they have prioritised interest-rate cuts this year to avoid bloating their balance sheet.
The franc has surged some 4% since mid-July amid a global unwinding of carry trades and flows into the haven currency. It traded at CHF0.939 per euro on Wednesday morning.
After faring better than peers during the energy and inflation crises, Switzerland’s economy is struggling to gain traction amid weak export demand. A purchasing managers index of manufacturing has been stuck below the threshold signaling growth since the start of 2023.
The SNB has cut rates twice and is expected to do so again next month. Already before this week’s franc surge, economists had pointed out that its real exchange rate had rebounded to the level seen before the central bank’s last move, adding to the case for policymakers to consider more reductions.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Politics
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
Swiss central banker wants to boost equity to head off risks
This content was published on
Equity levels at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) are much too low for the risks its large balance sheet poses, according to Martin Schlegel.
Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather
This content was published on
The past brewing year fell through in Switzerland, partly due to the bad weather. Beer sales shrank again. For the first time, per capita consumption fell below the 50 liter mark.
Compensation for Syrian after pregnant wife denied help on Swiss train
This content was published on
Switzerland’s Federal Court has partially upheld the appeal of a Syrian family being deported from Switzerland to Italy in 2014. The man now also receives compensation.
Swiss-EU negotiations: Cassis to meet Sefcovic in Bern
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will meet the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, in Bern on Wednesday.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.