ZURICH, Dec 16 Reuters The Swiss National Bank stuck to its ultraloose monetary policy on Thursday, diverging from the tightening path being taken by a growing number of central banks and despite higher inflation and a surge in the value of the safehaven Swiss franc.

The SNB said its current policy, combining the world39;s lowest interest rates with currency market interventions, remained appropriate despite the franc39;s recent rise to sixandahalf year highs. Z8N2QW00R

By contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it would end its pandemicera bond purchases in March and pave the way for three quarterpercentagepoint interest rate hikes by the end of 2022. 

Norway39;s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate on Thursday as widely expected and said more hikes will likely follow next year. 

Also meeting on Thursday, the European Central Bank is all but certain to dial back stimulus one more notch, while the Bank of England could become the first of the major central banks to raise interest rates after inflation in Britain hit a decade high of 5.1 in November. 

Although Swiss inflation is rising, it was at a comparatively modest rate of 1.5 in November. SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said he thought inflation had peaked at this level and would decline during 2022.

Despite the rise of the franc, Jordan stuck to his description of the franc as only highly valued, because of the inflation differences between Switzerland and other countries.

Since its last…