Bank of Israel once again bought hundreds of millions of dollars to weaken the shekel

The Bank of Israel once again acted aggressively in the local currency market, in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars - in a successful attempt, in terms of a single trading day, to stop the strengthening of the shekel against the dollar.
Trading in the shekel-dollar arena began with a rapid rise of the shekel from 3.25 to 3.24 shekels to the dollar. The Bank of Israel began to buy dollars, and by the early afternoon the Israeli currency had more or less returned to the levels at which trading began. How much money did it cost the Bank of Israel? The Central Bank does not publish the daily volume of activity. Such information hinders him in the "struggle" with currency traders, and a few years ago he even instructed trading rooms not to share the cash flows they see on behalf of the central bank with customers or outsiders, but it is estimated that it is at least $ 300 million. The cumulative figure on foreign exchange purchases in the free market, which traders can no longer use, he publishes only once a month.
It's in Israel. On the other side of the world, in the United States, just a few hours ago, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Manuchin announced that two countries in the world would henceforth be defined as "currency manipulators" - Vietnam and Switzerland. Intervene in the currency market regularly and unilaterally to prevent the strengthening of their currencies against the dollar. To eliminate activities that create an unfair advantage for foreign competitors. "
The Bank of Israel can probably ignore the American announcement and continue the policy of buying dollars as it has been doing for many years. The chances that Israel will find itself on the short list of "currency regulators" that are interfering with the American economy, or mercifully snatching economic sanctions from it, are probably nil. On the other hand, the bank should reconsider its policy, which is ultimately ineffective. Because the fact is that the currency exchange rate is strengthening all the time, it only helps a not very large sector of export companies and local manufacturers with highly uncompetitive products. On the other hand, it raises the cost of living for all citizens of the country, it costs money to the central bank (i.e .: to the public), and it lowers the motivation of these protected companies to become more efficient and produce products and services with higher added value.