"The government need not intervene in the foreign currency market," said Accountant General Shuki Oren at the fifth annual conference of the Israel Forum of Chief Financial Officers (CFO Forum) at Kfar Blum.
"We must, as a government, be very careful. The moment the government intervenes massively, things don’t happen. Had the government intervened in the crisis at Vita-Galilee Fruit Ltd. (Vita-Pri Galil) (TASE: VITA), the deal would not have gone through."
Oren slammed the calls to act against speculators. "We're constantly hearing calls against speculators. Can I ask you how one identifies a speculator? Does he wear a hat? What is speculation? Do you really know how it done?"
Oren added, "If there were no speculators in the foreign currency market, there wouldn’t be a market. What is trading? If there are no speculators, there wouldn’t be any turnover or liquidity. Israel's foreign currency market has grown dramatically. Speculators maintain the market. They do good work. They operate daily and are a balancing force. People don’t understand this market."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 10, 2009
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