By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) -The Swiss National Bank decided to keep its interest rate at 0% last month after it concluded the Swiss economic outlook and future inflation meant there was no need to go into negative territory, according to minutes published on Thursday.
Monetary policy was currently supporting the economy, with the full impact of previous rate cuts yet to be felt, the SNB said in the first time it had published minutes of its meeting.
U.S. tariffs were only affecting part of the Swiss economy, with “hardly any” signs so far of the negative effect on exporters affecting other parts of the economy, the SNB said.
“Despite the tariffs, the overall economic situation is not currently giving cause for concern. Most economic indicators continue to point to moderate growth. However, uncertainty remains high,” the SNB said.
The inflation forecast and the economic outlook support the case for not changing monetary policy, the bank said.
“Against this backdrop, the Governing Board concluded that a further easing of monetary policy was not appropriate,” it added.
The decision to publish minutes was a move by the conservative central bank to catch up with peers who have been more transparent on how they set monetary policy.
(Reporting by John RevillEditing by Dave Graham)
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