The Israeli shekel has lost value against the dollar over the past week or so, and has now reached its lowest rate in three years. Today\'s representative rate was set by Bank of Israel as 4.299 shekels to the dollar. Although this is a negative development for the Israeli economy, exporters are happy with it. The devaluation is attributed to the ongoing security problems, low interest rates, and the general recession, which features a weakened hi-tech market and therefore less trading in dollars.