More pain for local debtors as Swiss franc gains 15% on euro

By Stelios Orphanides

The decision of the Swiss National Bank to scrap a cap in the exchange rate of the country’s currency towards the euro which led to a sharp revaluation of the Swiss franc, means more bad news for borrowers in Cyprus.

“The Swiss National Bank has decided to discontinue the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 Swiss francs per euro with immediate effect and to cease foreign currency purchases associated with enforcing it,” Thomas Jordan, who chairs the governing board of the SNB said today, according to a statement on the SNB’s website. “The minimum exchange rate was introduced during a period of exceptional overvaluation of the Swiss franc and an extremely high level of uncertainty on the financial markets. This exceptional and temporary measure protected the Swiss economy from serious harm”.

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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.