The Swiss National Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday despite deep trouble on international financial markets which triggered a new joint action from major central banks, Reuters reported. The SNB said after regular quarterly policy meeting that its target band for the three-month Swiss franc LIBOR remained at 2.25-3.25 percent and it continued to aim for the mid-point of the range, or 2.75 percent. All 43 analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast the central bank would hold rates for the fourth quarter running. The SNB still faces the conflicting problems of inflation which is well above its stability threshold of 2 percent and fading economic growth. Earlier on Thursday the SNB joined other top central banks in announcing they would pump more than $180 billion in extra dollar funds into global money markets. The coordinated effort was aimed easing a funding squeeze triggered by the upheaval on Wall Street.
