The Bank of Israel acquired nearly $ 5 billion within a month

The Bank of Israel continued to operate aggressively in the foreign exchange market in February. The bank acquired nearly $ 5 billion during the month, as part of the bank's plan to make a $ 30 billion purchase during 2021 to deal with the sharp appreciation of the shekel.
In January, the bank purchased nearly $ 6.8 billion, so that in just two months by 2021 the bank has already made more than a third of its 2021 acquisition plan as a whole. However, the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Amir Yaron, has stated several times that the plan for the $ 30 billion acquisition is unlimited, and it is possible that the Bank will increase its purchases in accordance with needs.
The current dollar exchange rate is NIS 3,318 per dollar. The bank's acquisition program may have helped moderate the sharp drop in the dollar: since the beginning of February, the dollar has completed a rise of almost 1%. However, the dollar is still far from the level it was about a year ago. Between March 2020 and March 2021, the dollar fell by 4.9%.
At the same time, against the background of the Corona crisis, the Bank of Israel continued to operate in the bond market and continued, at a uniform pace, in the quantitative easing policy. A comprehensive plan for the purchase of NIS 85 billion.
In February, too, in light of the situation in the markets, the Bank of Israel refrained from continuing to purchase corporate bonds. On the other hand, the bank increased its loans by more than NIS 2.3 billion to a negative interest rate of 0.1% - with the aim of providing credit to small businesses. From the beginning of the corona to NIS 25 billion.