A new record in the Bank of Israel's foreign exchange reserves: $ 185.690 billion

A new record in the Bank of Israel's foreign exchange reserves, after the Central Bank purchased another two billion dollars during March, as part of its efforts to prevent a renewed decline in the dollar exchange rate in Israel to lows. Today (Wednesday) the representative exchange rate of the dollar was set at NIS 3.2990.
The Bank of Israel reported today that Israel's foreign exchange reserves totaled a new all-time high of $ 185.690 billion at the end of March 2021. This is an increase of $ 635 million compared to the end of February, when Israel's foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 185,055 billion.
In March, the Bank of Israel purchased $ 1.983 billion, and since the beginning of the year it has already purchased about $ 14 billion, almost half of the $ 30 billion it undertook to purchase throughout the year, the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Professor Amir Yaron, to protect exports and industry in Israel. This, after the dollar fell in mid-January this year to a rate of NIS 3.1130, a low of 25 years.
The Bank of Israel also reported today that transfers from the private sector from abroad amounted to $ 7 million in March and transfers from the Israeli government from abroad amounted to $ 339 million last month.
On the other hand, the increase was partially offset by the revaluation of the Bank of Israel's foreign currency reserves in the amount of $ 1.694 billion, due to changes in currency exchange rates.
Since the beginning of the corona crisis, when Israel's foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 125.941 billion in March 2020, the reserves have increased by about $ 60 billion, an increase of almost 50% in just one year. There is no precedent for such a large increase in Israel's currency balances and for the amount of dollars held by the Central Bank of Israel today. The ratio of reserves to GDP in Israel increased from 39% in March 2020 to 46% today.
The Bank of Israel continues to purchase dollars in the foreign exchange market to support the dollar against the shekel, in order to facilitate Israeli exports. The Central Bank is also expected to purchase large amounts of dollars in the market in April, according to the Bank's plan for the entire year.