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	Monetary policy for 2009
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".	Four times a year – in March, June, September and December – the SNB publishes a monetary policy assessment in which it describes the current monetary situation, presents the latest inflation forecast and announces its monetary policy intentions for the coming quarter. At the same time, it publishes a monetary policy report in the Quarterly Bulletin.
Monetary policy in previous years	Monetary statistics
The published monetary policy assessments from previous years (as summarised in the Annual Report) are available online.	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 SNB’s Monthly Statistical Bulletin in PDF and Excel format.