Foreign exchange reserves up in the Bank of Israel, December 2013

Press release published by the Bank of Israel show that Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of December 2013 stood at US$81,770 million, an increase of US$1,181million from their level at the end of November.

The increase was the result of:

1. Foreign currency purchases by the Bank of Israel totaling US$630 million, of which US$330 million were purchased as part of the purchase program intended to offset the effects of natural gas production on the exchange rate.

2. A revaluation that increased the reserves by about US$335million.

3. Private sector transfers totaling about US$244 million.

These were partly offset by Government transfers to abroad totaling about US$28 million.