SNB's Roth says still room to play with on rates

ZURICH, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank still has room to manoeuvre after it surprised markets with an unscheduled full percentage point rate cut, the bank's chief Jean-Pierre Roth said on Thursday.

"We see a clear worsening of the economic situation," Roth said in an interview with Swiss television station SF1. "We couldn't wait any longer."

"It's the most serious situation in decades," he added in a subsequent interview with radio station RS1.

Earlier on Thursday, the SNB made in its third cut in six weeks, lowering its target band for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR to 0.50-1.50 percent from a previous 1.50-2.50 percent range.

Roth said that rates had been lower before and that the bank "still has room for manoeuvre". Thursday's cut, announced three weeks before a regular quarterly review, takes Swiss rates to their lowest level since March 2006 and is the biggest reduction since the SNB switched to a target band system in 2000.

The central bank said inflation risks had reduced enough for it to take swift action. It noted worsening economic conditions and said it would monitor money and foreign exchange markets closely.

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(Reporting by Jason Rhodes; editing by Patrick Graham)