Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan said the central bank's currency ceiling on the franc remains essential to protect the country's economy. "The minimum exchange rate is very important," Jordan said yesterday in Washington, where he attended the joint annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "It remains a crucial tool of our monetary policy in order to avoid a tightening of monetary conditions in Switzerland." The Zurich-based SNB implemented the cap of 1.20 per euro in September 2011 after the franc came close to parity with the bloc's currency.