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Bank of Israel to buy more US dollars

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-10 22:06

JERUSALEM  -- The Bank of Israel will increase the rate of purchasing US currency to 100 million US dollars per day beginning from Thursday, the bank announced.

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The plan to increase the US currency purchases was part of a plan to increase foreign currency reserves to 35-40 billion US dollars, the bank noted.

The US dollar was being traded at New Israel Shekels (NIS) 3. 22 on Thursday afternoon, a rise of one agora over the morning hours' NIS 3.21 exchange rate, which was the lowest rate in the past 12 years.

In March, the Bank of Israel purchased US dollars for the first time in 10 years, with an intention to stop the shekel from growing much stronger against the US currency.