The increase was mainly the result of a revaluation that increased the reserves by about $4.243 billion, the Bank of Israel reports.
Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2024 hit a record high of $217.377 billion, an increase of $3.743 billion from their level at the end of July, the Bank of Israel reports – beating the previous record high of $213.741 billion at the end of March 2024. The level of the reserves relative to GDP at the end of August was 42.3%.
The increase was mainly the result of a revaluation that increased the reserves by about $4.243 billion. This increase was partly offset by the government’s foreign exchange activities totaling 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 again did not sell any foreign currency in August and has only sold $8.5 billion in foreign currency since the start of the war, most of it in October and November 2023.
In fact the foreign exchange reserves have risen from $202.856 billion to $213.741 billion over the past 12 months.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on September 8, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
Bank of Israel credit: Shutterstock
