Israel’s foreign currency market in 2015
The Exchange Rate
Moderate weakening of the shekel against the dollar, in parallel with the strengthening of the dollar worldwide.
In 2015, the shekel weakened by 0.3 percent against the dollar. The exchange-rate trend was not consistent—until June, the shekel appreciated by about 3 percent against the dollar, and in June-December it depreciated back by 2.7 percent. Against the euro, the shekel strengthened by about 10.1 percent in 2015. Against the currencies of Israel’s main trading partners, in terms of the nominal effective exchange rate of the shekel (i.e., the trade-weighted average shekel exchange rate against those currencies), the shekel strengthened by about 7.3 percent.
The trend of dollar appreciation was global: in 2015, the dollar strengthened markedly worldwide against most advanced-economy currencies, including by 11.6 percent against the euro, by 5.3 percent against the British pound, and by 12.2 percent against the Australian dollar. Against developing-economy currencies, the dollar strengthened by 19.7 percent, on average.
In December, the shekel weakened by about 0.6 percent against the dollar, and by about 3.6 percent against the euro. Worldwide, the dollar was mixed, weakening by 2.9 percent against the euro and by 2.2 percent against the Japanese yen, but strengthening by 1.4 percent against the British pound.
Source: BOI – Israel’s foreign currency market in 2015
