and subject to interest, and not gifts. the measures taken by the federal government, finma and the snb have put a halt to the crisis surrounding credit suisse. in a few minutes, martin schlegel will explain the structure of the liquidity assistance loans in detail. andrea maechler will then talk about our cooperation with other central banks over the last few days. she will also briefly explain the impact of the liquidity measures on the implementation of our monetary policy. monetary policy decision i come now to our monetary policy decision. we have decided to tighten our monetary policy further and to raise the snb policy rate by 0. 5 percentage points to 1. 5 %. in doing so, we are countering the renewed increase in inflationary pressure. it cannot be ruled out that additional rises in the snb policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term. page 2 / 6 zurich, 23 march 2023 thomas jordan, martin schlegel and andrea m. maechler news conference to provide appropriate monetary conditions, we also remain willing to be active in the foreign exchange market as necessary. for some quarters now, the focus has been on selling foreign currency. the snb policy rate change applies from tomorrow, 24 march 2023. banks ’ sight deposits held at the snb will be remunerated at the snb policy rate of 1. 5 % up to a certain threshold. sight deposits above this threshold will be remunerated at an interest rate of 1. 0 %, and thus still at a discount of 0. 5 percentage points relative to the snb policy rate. inflation forecast i would now like to address the current development of inflation. inflation has risen again since the beginning of the year, and stood at 3. 4 % in february. it is therefore still clearly above the range the snb equates with price stability. the latest rise in inflation is principally due to higher prices for electricity, tourism services and food. however, price increases are now also broad - based. our new conditional inflation forecast is based on the assumption that the snb policy rate is 1. 5 % over the entire forecast horizon ( cf. chart 1 ). stronger second - round effects and the fact that inflationary pressure from abroad has increased again mean that, despite the raising of the snb policy rate, the new forecast is higher through to mid - 2025 than in december. the new forecast puts average annual inflation at 2.

news conference embargo 23 march 2023, 10. 00 am introductory remarks by the governing board thomas jordan, martin schlegel and andrea m. maechler chairman of the governing board / vice chairman of the governing board / member of the governing board swiss national bank zurich, 23 march 2023 © swiss national bank page 1 / 6 zurich, 23 march 2023 thomas jordan, martin schlegel and andrea m. maechler news conference ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to welcome you to the news conference of the swiss national bank. after our introductory remarks, we will take questions from journalists as usual. contribution to financial stability ensuring price stability is and will remain the core objective of the snb. our monetary policy assessment has taken place in an exceptional situation. last week, there was a loss of confidence in credit suisse. in order to avert damage to switzerland, on sunday the authorities decided on extensive measures to safeguard financial stability. the snb contributed to this solution within the framework of its mandate. i would like to describe our contribution in more detail and explain why it was necessary. the global crisis of confidence rapidly intensified last week due to the turmoil in the us banking industry. from wednesday onwards, this had a direct impact on credit suisse ’ s liquidity situation as a result of strong outflows of customer deposits and cuts in counterparty limits. the snb then lent credit suisse large amounts of liquidity in swiss francs and foreign currencies. the extensive liquidity assistance provided the time needed to find a solution to safeguard financial stability. this solution had to be worked out under considerable time pressure in order to be ready before the asian markets opened this week. a credit suisse bankruptcy would have had serious consequences for national and international financial stability and for the swiss economy. taking this risk would have been irresponsible. on sunday, the takeover of credit suisse by ubs was announced. at that time, we said that the snb would provide additional substantial liquidity in the form of loans to support the successful implementation of the takeover. the snb provides such liquidity assistance within the scope of its statutory task to contribute to the stability of the financial system. in exceptional situations, as the lender of last resort we provide emergency liquidity against sufficient collateral. the solvency of the bank must be confirmed by finma in each case. let me make one thing very clear : our liquidity measures are loans that are secured