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Banking / Investment in Israel

  • Bank of Israel keeps policy rate on hold in December

    ISRAEL, 2016/01/18 At its 28 December monetary policy conference, the Bank of Israel (BoI) decided to leave the policy rate unchanged at 0.10% as markets had expected. This is the eighth consecutive conference in which the Bank has decided to keep the policy rate on hold. The BoI commented that the economy likely grew at a steady rate in the fourth quarter, thus following the 2.4% expansion tallied in the third quarter. The escalation of violence in the country is negatively affecting tourism and, according to the Bank, tourist entries declined a seasonally-adjusted 0.5% in November, which followed a drop of 7.0% in October. Regarding the labor market, the BoI added that the unemployment rate is low and that the job vacancy rate is high.

  • Israeli Banking A long resilience building process

    ISRAEL, 2015/09/28  Dr. Nadine Baudot Trajtenberg, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel, talks about the country’s economic enviable performance and the role solid monetary policies play someday of Israel’s financial system Israel is making solid evolution in building a modern, competitive and open economy. Since the mid-1980s, the country has undertaken significant deregulation and liberalisation while the role of market forces has expanded. Please expand on the current situation of the Israeli banking sector and the major attributes behind its solidness.

  • Chinese Investment in Israeli Tech on the Rise

    CHINA, 2015/06/07 Chinese investment in Israeli technology companies is on the rise, with IVC Research Center predicting Tuesday the price of investment rounds involving one or additional Chinese investors growing by as much as 54% this year, reported Haaretz. Tel Aviv-based IVC, which studies investment trends, noted the price of investment rounds in which Chinese investors have participated has nearly tripled in three years, with $302 million last year. In the initial four months of 2015, the figure is by presently at $117 million, IVC said at an investor’s conference called “Chinese Investors – Israeli Technologies”. Based on these early trends, investment rounds with Chinese participation should reach $467 million this year.

  • Bank of Israel leaves Benchmark rate at record low 0.1%

    ISRAEL, 2015/05/27 The Bank of Israel left its interest rate unchanged at a record low, amid expectations negative inflation will reverse course. The five-member monetary panel, led by Governor Karnit Flug, kept the benchmark rate at 0.1 % on Monday. Seventeen of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimate the decision, while the remainder predicted a cut. Israel’s consumer price index is projected to rise 1.1 % over the next 12 months, according to a survey of economists, the central bank said May 18, bringing inflation within the target range of 1 % to 3 %. While the index fell 0.5 % in April from a year before, its eighth consecutive monthly decline, the drop was less than in the previous two months.

  • Israeli Startups Raise Impressive $994 Million In First Quarter Of 2015

    ISRAEL, 2015/04/30 According to a statement released today by IVC Research Center, 166 Israeli startup companies raised a whopping $994 million from venture capital firms in the initial quarter of 2015, the second-best result in the last decade. Even additional telling, this figure was 48 % higher than the $673 million raised by 160 companies in the initial quarter of 2014. However, it is still 10 % below the record high $1.1 billion invested in 184 companies in the fourth quarter of 2014.

  • Bank of Israel Gov. Karnit Flug

    ISRAEL, 2014/11/08 Bank of Israel Gov. Karnit Flug on Monday singled out Israel’s labor market as the central arena for the country’s long-term economic health. Speaking at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society, Flug said that policymakers had to focus on “inclusive” increase. “We face three central challenges: absorbing populations with low employment rates and low wages into the core of the labor market; raising the productivity levels in a portion of the economy reflected by high levels of low wage workers; and matching skills and education to the changing labor market,” she said.

  • In historic deal, Israel agrees to $6 billion Intel investment

    ISRAEL, 2014/09/30 Israel's finance and economy ministries on Monday approved a plan by Intel Corp to invest $6 billion in the upgrade of its chip manufacturing plant, in what would be the major single investment by a foreign company in the country. Intel will receive a government grant of $300 million over five years and will be eligible to pay a corporate tax rate of only 5 % for a 10-year period, the ministries said. The U.S. chip giant plans to hire close to 1,000 additional workers at the plant in the southern town of Kiryat Gat by 2023, in addition to the 2,500 that by presently work there.

  • Investment of billions of shekels in Israeli hi-tech

    ISRAEL, 2014/08/31 US computer chip giant Intel is to invest close to $6 billion in upgrading its Israeli production facilities, Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday. "Intel chose to set up its most advanced production line in Israel in the face of tough competition," Bennett told public radio. "It's an investment of billions of shekels in Israeli hi-tech," he added.

  • Jacob Frenkel next Bank of Israel governor

    ISRAEL, 2013/06/24 The next governor of the Bank of Israel will be an old governor of the Israeli central bank – none other than Jacob A. Frenkel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced on Sunday. Frenkel last led the Israeli central bank from 1991 to the year 2000. He has spent the last several years, from December 2009, as chairman of JPMorgan International, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. "I think is the appointment is a amaze on the upside," Rafael Gozlan, chief economist at Tel Aviv-based IBI Investment Home, told Haaretz. "The markets will like it, based on Frenkel's status in the world and his experience and familiarity with the Israeli economic scene. I view the appointment as a direct continuation of Fischer's policy." 

  • Israel’s Shekel . Central Bank Keeps Rates on Hold

    ISRAEL, 2013/03/29 Investors’ quest for higher yield has drummed up support for the Israeli shekel, which this week hit its strongest level against the dollar since October 2011. Investors like Israel’s higher interest rate of 1.75% compared to near-zero rates of developed nations and hands-off approach to its currency, prompting them to buy additional shekel-denominated bonds. 
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