The public's financial assets shrank by NIS 218 billion in January-October 2008, the Bank of Israel reported today. The public's financial assets fell from NIS 2.03 trillion at the end of 2007 to NIS 1.88 trillion at the end of October, a drop of NIS 146 billion.
In addition, since February, the Bank of Israel has included in its financial assets statistics the government's financial obligation to the old pension funds (founded before January 1, 1995), which now totals NIS 72 billion. This accounting measure brings the total drop in the public's assets in January-October to NIS 218 billion.
Most of the drop in value was due to plunge in the value of the public's Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) stock portfolio, which lost NIS 227 billion in value from NIS 490 billion in January to NIS 263 billion in October. Most of the loss was in September and October, when the value of the public's stock portfolio fell by NIS 151 billion. The value of the public's foreign securities fell by a quarter from NIS 81 billion at the end of 2007 to NIS 61 billion at the end of October.
Israel's total foreign assets fell by NIS 22 billion from NIS 214 billion at the end of 2007 to NIS 192 billion at the end of October.
The public, however, sharply increased its holdings in shekel deposits and Consumer Price Index (CPI) linked instruments. The value of CPI-linked instruments increased by NIS 48.5 billion since January to NIS 657.5 billion in October, and shekel deposits and other unlinked instruments increased by NIS 61 billion to NIS 629 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 9, 2008
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