law laid down exactly what assets the snb was permitted to invest in and what securities were eligible as collateral in lombard business. in future, the national bank will be responsible for making these decisions itself. at the time when the new law enters into force, we shall publish two directives. one will spell out the technical preconditions for our monetary operations ; the other will set out how we shall use our extended investment policy scope. my colleague, philipp hildebrand, in his address will present our first ideas on this subject. the new law vests specific responsibilities in the snb with respect to the oversight of payment and securities settlement systems. up to now, our oversight of the sic interbank payment system was based on a contractual relationship. as from next year, our responsibilities in this domain will be based on the law and will extend to the oversight of all major payment and settlement systems. my colleague, niklaus blattner, will discuss this subject in more detail in his remarks. the new law also provides that the snb shall issue implementing regulations in the area of minimum reserves, statistics and the oversight of payment and settlement systems. the draft of an ordinance has already been submitted to the interested parties for consultation. in the field of minimum reserves and statistics we intend in principle to take up the provisions already existing in the federal law on banks and savings banks and the federal law on investment funds. as regards the oversight of payment and settlement systems, we are advancing into totally new territory, where for the time being only the main principles have been defined. this implies pioneering work in the implementation.

jean - pierre roth : economic activity and monetary policy in switzerland introductory remarks by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the end - of - year media news conference, zurich, 12 december 2003. * * * the national bank has decided to leave the target range for the three - month libor rate unchanged at 0. 0 % - 0. 75 %. for the time being, the three - month libor is to be kept around 0. 25 %. in the past two years, we reacted to the decline in economic activity and the upward trend of the swiss franc by considerably relaxing our monetary policy. now the signs of an economic recovery in switzerland are intensifying. the upswing is not yet assured, though. at the same time, the inflation potential is small. for this reason, we are adhering to our expansionary monetary policy and are keeping down the attractiveness of swiss franc investments. we estimate that the economy will grow by slightly over 1. 5 % in 2004, while a moderate decline in economic activity is expected for the current year. if monetary policy remains unchanged, average annual inflation is likely to amount to 0. 4 % in the coming year, to 1. 0 % in 2005 and to 2. 3 % in 2006. we are of the opinion that price stability can be maintained by tightening monetary policy at a later point in time. in the following, i shall first focus on economic activity in switzerland and our new inflation forecast. this will be followed by a discussion of monetary policy. finally, i shall elaborate on the new national bank law. economic activity in switzerland, a turnaround in economic development emerged in the third quarter of 2003. real gdp exceeded the previous quarter ’ s level for the first time since the third quarter 2002. nevertheless, it still fell short of its year - earlier level. the swiss economy recovered largely in line with our expectations as communicated in our september assessment of the situation. the recovery is attributable to the pickup in global economic activity, low interest rates and generally more favourable exchange rate conditions. this benefited primarily exports, which rose markedly in the third quarter. equipment investment, too, picked up slightly following a long phase of decline. private and government consumption continued to have a stabilising effect. the economic situation in switzerland should improve further in the next few months. we are expecting exports to continue developing favourably, coupled with a robust increase in equipment investment.