The increase was mainly due to a revaluation process that increased reserves by about $4.243 billion, the Bank of Israel reported.
Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2024 reached an all-time high of $217.377 billion, an increase of $3.743 billion over their level at the end of July, the Bank of Israel reported – surpassing the previous record of $213.741 billion at the end of March 2024. The level of reserves relative to GDP at the end of August was 42.3%.
This increase was mainly due to the revaluation which increased reserves by about $4.243 billion. This increase was partially offset by the government’s foreign exchange activities which totaled about $483 million.
Despite announcing in October 2023 at the start of the war a plan to sell up to $30 billion in foreign currency to support the shekel, the Bank of Israel did not sell any foreign currency in August again and has sold only $8.5 billion in foreign currency since the start of the war, mostly in October and November 2023.
In fact, foreign exchange reserves rose from $202.856 billion to $213.741 billion over the past twelve months.
This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on September 8, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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