Annonce

**zek** · 11 octobre 2009, 22h22

Shekel weakens as central bank buys dollars to stabilize rate

The shekel declined for the first time in five days after traders said the central bank bought dollars yesterday to keep the currency from rising.

"The Bank of Israel intervened late Tuesday, buying some $200 million," said Yaron Chechik, a currency trader at Financial Immunities Ltd. "The dollar plunged against most currencies Tuesday, but the bank wanted to keep the shekel exchange rate stable."

A spokesman for the central bank declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.

The currency weakened 0.2 percent to 3.7462 per dollar in Tel Aviv.

The Bank of Israel has increased its foreign currency reserves to record levels since it began buying in March 2008 to weaken the shekel and protect exporters. Governor Stanley Fischer, in August, stopped set $100m. daily purchases, saying it would buy only in the event of "unusual movements" in the shekel. Reserves rose to $60 billion at the end of September from $57.8b. a month earlier, the central bank said Tuesday.

Government bonds fell with the yield on the benchmark Mimshal Shiklit adding one basis point to 4.56%. The price of the 5.5% security due February 2017 dropped NIS 0.08 to NIS 109.10. About NIS 80.7m. of the bonds traded versus the average daily volume of NIS 241.5m., according to Bloomberg data. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

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**zek** · 11 octobre 2009, 22h23

Teheran to enrich further if talks fail

The spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization is warning that his country will enrich uranium to a higher level needed to power a research reactor if talks with world powers fail.

Ali Shirzadian told The Associated Press that Iran is open to discussing proposals on the issue at an Oct. 19 meeting in Vienna with officials from the US, France and Russia.

Those nations want Iran to send its processed uranium abroad to be enriched to higher levels for the reactor. Enrichment is a central concern because it can be used in nuclear power and research reactors or to make weapons, if processed further.

In an interview Wednesday with the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying that "there have been some proposals by individual countries and groups of countries. We are ready to hold talks with anyone interested. Our experts will soon start talks with those sellers," according to a Reuters account of the interview.

Haviv Rettig Gur contributed to this report.

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**zek** · 11 octobre 2009, 22h24

Steinitz announces 'clear signs of recovery' in past three months

The economy has shown "clear signs of recovery" in the past three months, though caution is "still essential," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Tuesday.

Exports have increased 25 percent, tax revenue has expanded, and for the first time in 15 months, manufacturing production rose significantly, Steinitz said in a speech at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Istanbul.

"We can say with satisfaction that the last three months have finally shown clear signs of recovery, as most macroeconomic indicators have shifted direction," he said, adding that unemployment remains "one of the most challenging issues."

The economy returned to growth in the second quarter, expanding at an annualized 1% rate after contracting for the previous six months. The Central Bureau of Statistics said on September 16 that the economy will grow 0.1% this year, and the Bank of Israel is predicting a 2.5% expansion in 2010.

Unemployment may increase to 8.6% next year from 8.2% this year, the IMF said in a report released on October 1.

Looking back to the past year, Steinitz said that the economic crisis has found Israel's economy holding steady in a turbulent environment, mainly due to high growth rates, public debt on a downward trend, a low budget deficit and a thriving hi-tech industry abundant with start-up companies and venture capital activities.

"Despite strong fundamentals, the crisis did have serious negative effects on our economy, due to the global nature of our real economy and financial institutions; export figures have sharply declined, risk premiums soared, the well-known credit crunch occurred, thus influencing the real economy and investments, suppressing the stock exchange and the growth rates," said Steinitz.

He added that additional measures are being taken on the regulatory level of the capital market such as increasing capital requirements from insurance companies, and reorganizing capital markets regulations in order to prevent aggressive destabilizing marketing of pension funds and other long term savings vehicles.

"The government has taken steps to ease the credit crunch by providing guarantees for exporters and banks, and by creating leverage funds and credit funds for businesses," Steinitz said. "Government actions have also included billions of shekels injected into research and development programs, in order to support the hi-tech industries."

Commenting on the proposed IMF actions under discussion, Steinitz said that Israel supports the G-20 initiative to increase resources available to the IMF and will loan it, upon demand, money from its foreign exchange reserves.

"Israel is willing to play its part in contributing to the IMF's resources and will participate in the two main funding programs - the NAB (New Arrangement to Borrow) and the Voluntary SDR Allocation - that were recently announced. Upon demand, the IMF would be able to get a loan, up to 500 million SDR [$316m.], that would be paid from Israel's foreign exchange reserves," said Steinitz. "In addition, Israel will be committed to purchase its allocated SDR. This will be implemented as an investment from our foreign exchange reserves."

By SHARON WROBEL AND BLOOMBERG

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**hben** · 11 octobre 2009, 22h49

NOUS VIVONS DES TEMPS HISTORIQUES. IMAGINEZ ce qui va se passer en Israël et ailleurs, lorsque le dollar va vraiment fondre.

Ouais! Imaginez imaginez, c'est toujours mieux que rien!

Annonce

Israël voit sa monnaie fondre à cause des petits hommes verts

Israël voit sa monnaie fondre à cause des petits hommes verts

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