The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and against the euro in thin trading ahead of the Rosh Hashana Jewish New Year holiday. In morning inter-bank trading, the shekel was down 0.27% against the dollar from yesterday's representative rate at NIS 3.748/$, and was down 0.13% against the euro at NIS 4.206/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.320% from Tuesday's rate at NIS 3.758/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set up 0.081% at NIS 4.212/€.
On Monday the Bank of Israel decided to keep the interest rate unchanged, as expected, and raise the growth forecast for 2016 and 2017. The growth forecast for 2016 was raised from 2.4% to 2.8% and the growth forecast for 2017 was raised from 2.9% to 3.1%.
The Bank of Israel said, "From the monetary policy discussion on August 28, 2016, through September 23, 2016, the shekel strengthened by 0.2% against the dollar. In terms of the nominal effective exchange rate, the shekel appreciated by 0.3%, and has appreciated by 4.9% over the past 12 months. The level of the effective exchange rate continues to weigh on the growth of exports and of the tradable sector."
The bottom line is that Israel's economy looks strong while both the US and EU have uncertain futures with American elections next month and the possibility of a Trump administration, while the Brexit situation hangs over Europe.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 29, 2016
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