The shekel is strengthening today against the dollar and against the euro. In late morning trading the shekel was down 0.31% at NIS 3.441/$ and down 0.44% against the euro at NIS 3.786/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the representative shekel-dollar rate up 0.116% from Tuesday at NIS 3.452/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate was set down 0.173% at NIS 3.803/€.
Despite purchases of an estimated $7 billion in the past three months by the Bank of Israel, the shekel continues to strengthen against the world's major currencies. The start of the flow of gas from Leviathan and its export to Jordan and Egypt, Israel's entry into the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) from April 2020, which will bring in an estimated $2 billion worth of investment in Israel's bonds, and the continued strength of Israel's economy, all point in the direction of the strengthening of the shekel.
The shekel has been further boosted by the news that Israel's budget deficit has narrowed sharply from 3.8% to 3.2%.
The shekel is at its strongest against the dollar in more than two years and the shekel-euro rate has hit new lows.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 6, 2020
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