ZURICH, Reuters – On Thursday the Swiss National Bank announced a loss of $32.8 billion Swiss francs (33.75 Billion). This was due to lower bond values and a higher franc.

Due to its currency investments during its Campaign to Tame Francs, 36.8 Billion Francs was lost by the bank.

From its interest portfolio of bonds, the bank earned a profit amounting to 1.6 billion euros and 800 millions from dividends it received from stocks and shares in companies such as Starbucks (NASDAQ;) and Alphabet (NASDAQ.).

However, this was erased by a large valuation loss in its bond portfolio which accounts for 80% of 977 billion Francs that the SNB holds as foreign currency investments.

Because investors anticipated higher interest rates from central banks to combat resurgent inflation this year, bond prices plunged in January. This led to the SNB suffering a loss of 25.1 million francs.

Also, the central bank suffered a 10.7 billion Francs loss from its share portfolio and a 3.4 million francs loss due to the exchange rate. The more costly Swiss franc decreased the value of foreign investments that were translated into francs.

The value of the franc soared earlier in this year, as investors looked for safe havens following war in Ukraine. Stock markets declined too.

The SNB recorded a gain in valuation of its gold holdings of 4.2 million francs due to the safety flight.

However, it only made 10.6 million Francs profit from Swiss franc positions. It did this mainly because of the negative interest rate it charges some banks to park their money overnight. SNB’s negative interest rate is one way to stop the Swiss Franc from rising.

($1 = 0.9718 Swiss francs)