The Bank of Israel purchased $801 million in May to stop the shekel from rising as the currency reached one of its strongest exchange rates against the U.S. dollar. Even so, the currency terminated May with its value rising by 4.6%.
Key Takeaways:
The Bank of Israel bought $801M in May to curb the shekel’s market rise, eyeing export stability.As Wall Street gains boost the shekel, Israel’s tech sector will next lay off more local workers in 2026.With tech at 57% of exports, Israel’s strong currency hurts margins, next driving firms to hire abroad.Israel’s economy is facing a dilemma, as its currency has maintained its strength even as the central bank actively seeks to decrease its value to maintain a healthy exchange rate.
While other currencies have lost value against the U.S. dollar since the current U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict emerged in February, the Israeli shekel has been gaining value, to the point that the Bank of Israel was forced to intervene in currency markets to curb its rise.
Nonetheless, even with this push, the Shekel kept rising and reached one of its highest exchange rates against the U.S. dollar in almost three decades, an issue that is affecting the nation’s booming technology economy.
Some blame this rise in the pressure Israeli pension funds exert on the exchange market as they hedge currency risks by selling dollars and buying shekels as Wall Street indexes keep rising.
While in theory, a stronger shekel should be a good thing for everyday Israelis, it hampers the exporters’ ability to price their products competitively in foreign markets dominated by the U.S. dollar, but paying services and wages in shekels.
As a result, tech companies have been laying off local workers and resorting to contracting workers in foreign markets. High-tech exports rose to $78 billion in 2024 and reached 57% of all exports in the first half of 2025, magnifying the impact of this issue.
