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SNB monetary policy assessment of March 2026: Summary of discussion
At the monetary policy assessment of 17 and 18 March 2026, the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank decided to leave the SNB policy rate unchanged at 0%. The SNB communicated its monetary policy decision to the public on 19 March 2026. The decision was preceded by an analysis and discussion of the monetary policy conditions and the economic conditions. Areas covered included the situation on the financial markets, monetary indicators, international conditions, the economic situation and the economic outlook for Switzerland. The decision was taken by Martin Schlegel (Chairman of the Governing Board), Antoine ... (full story)
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Ms Schnabel started her presentation by noting that the period after the Governing Council’s previous monetary policy meeting on 4-5 February 2026 could be divided into two distinct phases. In the first phase, up to the start of the war in the Middle East, the low-volatility and strong risk appetite environment had remained in place. In the second phase, when energy prices had surged in response to the war, volatility had increased in equity markets and especially in bond markets, and there had been sell-offs in both risk asset markets and bond markets. Brent crude oil prices had surged above USD 100 per barrel to levels last seen after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Natural gas prices had also increased substantially, but had remained well below their 2022 levels. At the same time, the Brent crude oil futures curve had shown historically high backwardation – a strong negative slope – suggesting that traders were expecting the spike in oil prices to be reversed quickly. However, over time traders had pared back expectations of a swift reversal of the spike in energy prices. Since the beginning of the war, the Brent crude oil futures curve had gradually shifted upwards and stood visibly above the curve that had prevailed shortly after it started. ECB ACCOUNTS: RISK OF UNDERSHOOTING THE TARGET HAD DISAPPEARED FOR THE TIME BEING ... ECB ACCOUNTS: THE STARTING POSITION FOR INFLATION WAS MUCH MORE FAVOURABLE NOW THAN IT HAD BEEN IN 2022 ECB PUBLISHES ACCOUNT OF MARCH 18-19 POLICY MEETING: *ECB OFFICIALS SAW WEAKER EURO AS UPSIDE RISK TO INFLATION *ECB OFFICIALS: WAR FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED INFLATION OUTLOOK *ECB OFFICIALS SAW ENERGY DISRUPTION POTENTIALLY LASTING MONTHS
In trend terms, in March 2026: • Unemployment rate remained at 4.3%. • Participation rate remained at 66.8%. • Employment increased to 14,762,800. • Employment to population ratio remained at 64.0%. • Underemployment rate remained at 5.9%. • Monthly hours worked increased to 2,015 million. In seasonally adjusted terms, in March 2026: • Unemployment rate ...
IRAN'S PLANNED HORMUZ TOLL TO BE PAID VIA IRANIAN BANKS: ISNA
