Swiss National Bank loses nearly $143 billion in first nine months

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) lost 142.2 billion Swiss francs ($142.60 billion) in the first nine months of 2022, it said on Monday, as rising interest rates and the stronger Swiss franc slashed the value of the central bank's foreign investments, Report informs, citing Reuters.

The loss - the largest in the SNB's 115-year history - was slightly more than the annual economic output of Morocco ($132 billion), but the central bank does not face bankruptcy thanks to its ability to create money.

The SNB made a loss of 141 billion francs from its foreign-currency positions as the bonds and stocks bought during its campaign to stem the appreciation of the safe-haven franc slid in value.

The figure included exchange rate-related losses of 24.4 billion as the stronger franc further reduced the value of its holdings, which include stakes in coffee retailer Starbucks (SBUX.O) and Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL.O).

Gold holdings lost 1.1 billion francs in value.

"These losses may sound like a lot, but the SNB is not a normal company," said UBS economist Alessandro Bee.