News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s central-bank governor Stanly Fischer said Tuesday he will continue to push an expansionary monetary policy while keeping an eye on inflation as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins work and the country fights the ripple effects of the global economic crisis. “Monetary policy will continue to be expansionary until there are signs of inflation,” Fischer said in an interview. “We’re doing very expansionary things now, and we’re going to have to be prepared to undo them when the economy starts recovering.”

Israel has not been hit as hard as many developed economies in the current crisis due in part to measures like tight bank regulations and strict mortgage terms. However, the economy is highly dependent on exports which account for almost 45 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.