the swiss national bank on thursday raised its benchmark interest rate to 05 a shift that brings an end to an era of negative rates in europe the 75 basis point hike follows an increase to 025 on june 16 which was the first rate rise in 15 years prior to this the swiss central bank had held rates steady at 075 since 2015 inflation in switzerland is currently running at its highest rate in three decades reaching 35 last month the swiss franc hit its strongest level against the euro since jan 2015 earlier in the week as economists started to speculate about the prospect of a 75 basis points increase switzerland had been the last remaining country in europe with a negative policy rate as the regions central banks have been aggressively increasing rates to tackle soaring inflation japan is now the last major economy with a central bank in negative territory after the bank of japan decided to keep its interest rates on hold at 01 on thursday denmark meanwhile ended its almost decadelong negative rate streak on sept 8 when the central bank raised its benchmark rate by 075 percentage points to 065