For the first time since the Bank of Israel announced its intervention in the foreign currency market in March 2008, its foreign currency reserves have topped the $44 billion threshold. For months, this threshold was the Bank of Israel's foreign currency reserves target.
Two weeks ago, the Bank of Israel announced that it would continue its program to buy an average of $100 million a day, but this time it did not set a target.
At the end of March, the Bank of Israel's foreign currency reserves totaled $44.15 billion, up 8.6%, or $3.51 billion. The central bank said that it bought $1.75 billion in trading transactions as part of its plan to increase its foreign currency reserves.
In addition, public sector transfers from abroad totaled $1.46 billion. This is an unusual amount, since this item usually amounts to $100-300 million per month. The increase was apparently due to the deposit of most of the money that the government raised in $1.5 billion bond issue in Luxembourg, which was oversubscribed.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 6, 2009
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