AIRLINK 180.36 Increased By ▲ 6.57 (3.78%)
BOP 11.17 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.67%)
CNERGY 8.53 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.27%)
CPHL 100.41 Decreased By ▼ -1.23 (-1.21%)
FCCL 45.96 Decreased By ▼ -0.98 (-2.09%)
FFL 15.81 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (2.73%)
FLYNG 27.89 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.36%)
HUBC 142.47 Decreased By ▼ -1.28 (-0.89%)
HUMNL 13.01 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.15%)
KEL 4.52 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 5.84 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.39%)
MLCF 61.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.69%)
OGDC 214.32 Increased By ▲ 2.30 (1.08%)
PACE 5.92 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (8.23%)
PAEL 46.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-0.51%)
PIAHCLA 17.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-1.33%)
PIBTL 10.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-2.21%)
POWER 12.17 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.73%)
PPL 172.71 Increased By ▲ 1.43 (0.83%)
PRL 36.02 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.39%)
PTC 23.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.43%)
SEARL 96.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-0.93%)
SSGC 41.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-0.89%)
SYM 14.44 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (2.05%)
TELE 7.38 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.94%)
TPLP 10.08 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.2%)
TRG 67.90 Increased By ▲ 4.01 (6.28%)
WAVESAPP 10.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.2%)
WTL 1.34 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.75%)
YOUW 3.81 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.42%)
BR100 12,481 Increased By 33.6 (0.27%)
BR30 38,008 Increased By 88.3 (0.23%)
KSE100 116,776 Increased By 385.5 (0.33%)
KSE30 35,849 Increased By 153 (0.43%)

ZURICH: The Swiss National Bank announced Thursday its second straight interest-rate cut, after becoming in March the first Western central bank to slash borrowing costs that had been raised to battle inflation.

The SNB said in a statement that it was lowering the policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.25 percent.

The bank also lowered its average annual inflation forecast for 2024 to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent previously.

“The underlying inflationary pressure has decreased again compared to the previous quarter,” the statement said.

“With today’s lowering of the SNB policy rate, the SNB is able to maintain appropriate monetary conditions.”

Analysts had been divided about whether the bank would cut rates again or stand pat as inflation had risen again in April and May, reaching 1.4 percent, after falling to 1.0 percent in March.

Central banks worldwide ramped up borrowing costs in recent years to control inflation, which surged when economies emerged from Covid pandemic lockdowns and accelerated after energy producer Russia invaded agricultural power Ukraine in early February 2022.

Swiss National Bank loses $3.6 billion in 2023

Since the SNB’s March decision, the European Central Bank followed suit in June while the US Federal Reserve is expected to introduce only one rate cut later this year.

The Bank of England is widely expected to keep its rates unchanged later on Thursday, a similar decision taken by Norway’s central bank earlier in the day.

Comments

Comments are closed.