Swiss president says no need for emergency franc measures

GENEVA: Switzerland's government does not currently see the need to introduce emergency measures to help the economy deal with a surge in the Swiss franc's value, the Alpine nation's president said on Monday.

Nine months after the Swiss central bank stunned markets by abandoning its 1.20 franc-per-euro currency cap, Simonetta Sommaruga said that the franc "was not that strong anymore".

"Until now the Federal Council has the opinion that we do not have to take specific measures, emergency measures," Sommaruga said at a conference for foreign correspondents in Geneva. "But as I said, we have to observe that."

The franc is now trading at around 1.09 per euro.

The Swiss central bank's chairman said on Saturday that it sees a low risk of a negative price and wage spiral and is hopeful that a recent "slight" depreciation in the franc will continue.

Switzerland is also among the group of European nations to commit to taking in migrants who are fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East.

Sommaruga said the government now expects around 30,000 asylum seekers to come to Switzerland this year, up from a previous estimate of 29,000. Neighbouring Germany expects more than one million in 2015.