Article by Currency Information and Research

The Israeli Shekel

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually in the form of coins and banknotes of a particular government and reflect the physical aspects of a nation’s money supply. Therefore the currency of a specific country is very important with respect to its position in the world trading market. These can be in forms of coins and banknotes depending on the choice of the government. However, mostly banknotes are used in world trading.

The currency of Israel is the “Israeli shekel”. A shekel may refer to the weight of barley; it was used in the Mesopotamia in 3000 BC. The Israeli shekel is denoted as a  sign. One Israeli shekel is further divided into 100 ago rot. The Israeli shekel is available in the form of banknotes and coins. These have the sign of shekel on it and are colored.  

The economy of Israel is a very strong, modern, and technologically advanced economy. The economy first faced recession in the early years due to volatility of the government, but has boosted up so rapidly that the value of the Israeli shekel rose about 20% in the past decade. . Even in the time of the world recession the Israeli economy grew and it was estimated as US$84 billion, or approximately 44% of GDP. It had 3% of its GDP in 2010.  However, before, the economy was so unstable that the Israeli shekel had to be replaced by the new Israeli shekel. As the economy of Israel was not stable in the past few years therefore it was a weak currency compared to the US dollar. This instability was due to the lack of interest of the government and the poor policies of the bank of Israel. Although, after the introduction of the new Israeli shekel their exports boosted up. The main trading partners of Israel include Europe, Canada, turkey and Jordan. The major industries are metal products, biomedical equipment, transport equipment, food, and chemicals. One of the major industries is the “Israel diamond industry” and natural gas. The signing of the free trade agreement also helped the economy rise in the world market. The inflation rate is currently low compared to before, where the devaluation increased to its maximum. It also faced problems of negative payment balance which also got brought back to positive figures recently.

The Israeli shekel is now the freest trading currency and can be easily converted into different currencies. This makes it easier to be used anywhere in the world. Thus it has gained popularity among the traders in the world trading market. 1 Israeli shekel = 0.264795 U.S. dollars. This reflects the stability of the economy and also the stability of the government.

The bank of Israel, which had poor policies, is now ranked as the central bank of the world because of its efficiency and reliability. Israel is ranked as the 24th largest economy of the world. The economy of Israel is growing at a fast rate; as a result even in times of recession the economy of Israel keeps growing. Therefore, the currency did not face much devaluation as compared to the rest of the world. Thus, it is now widely used in the trading business.

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