ZURIC:
Switzerland
's central bank expects to have logged a loss of three billion Swiss francs ($3.5 billion) last year, it said Tuesday, as it was hit by its own interest
rate hikes
.
The loss means the country's government and cantons will not receive their annual
pay-out
from the Swiss National Bank for a second year in a row, it said.
Like other central banks worldwide, the SNB has raised its
interest rates
out of negative territory in efforts to tame inflation.
This meant that the SNB had to pay interest to banks parking their money at the central bank.
Previously, it was the banks that had to pay interest on the money they had to deposit at the SNB as the rates were in negative territory.
The SNB said it had a loss of 8.5 billion francs on national currency positions last year. It made a profit of four billion francs on foreign currency positions.
Its gold holdings recorded a valuation gain of 1.7 billion francs.
The central bank posted a record loss of 132.5 billion francs in 2022.
It will post definitive figures for 2023 on March 4.
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