news conference berne, 25 march 2020 thomas jordan introductory remarks by thomas jordan ladies and gentlemen first, on behalf of the entire swiss national bank, i would like to express our sympathy to all those directly affected by coronavirus. swiss society and our country ’ s economy face enormous challenges. the snb is working closely with the federal council, the authorities and the business community to overcome this crisis. the measures adopted by the snb complement those of the confederation and are intended to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. monetary policy supplements the various fiscal measures taken by the public authorities. the swiss national bank has set up the snb covid - 19 refinancing facility ( crf ). this instrument is designed to strengthen the supply of credit to the swiss economy by providing the banking system with additional liquidity. there is no upper limit on the amounts available under the crf, and drawdowns can be made at any time. the crf will be available from 26 march 2020. the crf operates in conjunction with the federal government ’ s guarantees for corporate loans. the facility allows banks to obtain liquidity from the snb, which is secured by these federally guaranteed loans. in taking this action, we are enabling banks to access the required liquidity that will allow them to expand their lending rapidly and on a large scale. the interest rate for these refinancing transactions corresponds to the snb policy rate, currently −0. 75 %. under the crf, the snb can also conduct additional refinancing transactions in order to supply the banking system with further liquidity if required. as i mentioned, the snb ’ s new refinancing facility operates in conjunction with the federal government ’ s guarantees for corporate loans. so how does this approach work? page 1 / 2 berne, 25 march 2020 thomas jordan news conference in a stressed situation like the one we are facing, the risk of companies defaulting on loans increases. at the same time, the banks are seeking to hold higher levels of liquidity. these two factors can lead to a credit shortage, even though demand for credit is rising sharply. the confederation ’ s loan guarantees and the snb ’ s refinancing facility can unblock the system and get credit flowing again. as the banks have all the necessary client relationships, the loans will find their way to the companies that need them. the approach is simple, effective and makes use of existing structures.

david dodge : summary of the latest monetary policy report update opening statement by mr david dodge, governor of the bank of canada, at a press conference following the release of the monetary policy report update, ottawa, 24 january 2008. * * * good morning. i'm pleased to be here with you today, for my final press conference as governor of the bank of canada, to discuss our january monetary policy report update. the canadian economy continues to operate above its production capacity, despite some slowing in growth and inflation in the fourth quarter of 2007. financial conditions have deteriorated since october, leading to tighter credit conditions in industrialized countries. given this, and a deeper and more prolonged decline in the u. s. housing sector, the outlook for the u. s. economy in 2008 is now significantly weaker than at the time of the october mpr. the weaker u. s. economy will lead to additional downward pressure on canada's export growth. despite tighter credit conditions, domestic demand in canada is expected to remain strong, supported by continued income growth associated with the increase in commodity prices seen since october. overall, the bank now projects that the canadian economy will expand by 1. 8 per cent in 2008 and 2. 8 per cent in 2009. this growth profile implies that the economy will move into excess supply in the second quarter of this year, and then return to balance in early 2010. inflation is projected to fall below 1 1 / 2 per cent by the middle of this year before returning to 2 per cent by the end of 2009. this reflects a price - level adjustment related to increased competitive pressures in the retail sector stemming from the level of the canadian dollar, as well as the recent reduction in the gst. excluding the impact of the gst reduction, total cpi inflation is projected to average close to the 2 per cent target throughout 2008 and 2009. of course, there are a number of upside and downside risks to the bank's base - case projection for inflation. but overall, we judge these risks to be roughly balanced. on 4 december and on 22 january, the bank lowered its target for the overnight rate by onequarter of one percentage point, bringing it to 4 per cent. further monetary stimulus is likely to be required in the near term to keep aggregate supply and demand in balance, and to return inflation to target over the medium term.