The Monetary Committee of the Bank of Israel decided on Monday to keep the rate of interest that the bank charges commercial institutions at a tenth of a percent. The next decision is scheduled for the middle of April.
In making the announcement, the bank noted, "The inflation environment remains below the target, but there has been some increase in inflation expectations for the short and medium terms." It also said, "Since the last interest rate decision, the shekel has weakened by 3.1 percent in terms of the effective exchange rate, and by 1.6 percent against the dollar. In January, the Bank of Israel intervened in the foreign exchange market, buying $1.8 billion."