The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and weakening against the euro. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel-dollar exchange rate is down 0.68% against the dollar at NIS 3.525/$ and up 0.24% against the euro at 3.891/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.311% at NIS 3.549/$ from Monday, and set the shekel-euro rate down 0.008% at 3.881/€.
The dollar is weakening today on world markets after weaker than expected US manufacturing data. This has reversed the trend from earlier in the week when the dollar-index touched a two-year high on US growth outlook.
In Israel, the Ministry of Finance published data to show that the budget deficit over the past 12 months remained at 3.8% of GDP. The Ministry of Finance insists that the government will meet the 3.6% budget deficit target for 2019.
Earlier this week, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron told the "Globes" Governors Conference in Tel Aviv that he would not hesitate to intervene in the forex market, if the shekel moves out of a pre-defined trading band although he did not specify what that band is. However, while the shekel remains above NIS 3.50/$, the Bank is unlikely to intervene, as Yaron has not done so in the nine months since he has taken office.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 4, 2019
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