Foreign Exchange Reserves at the Bank of Israel, July 2020

Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of July 2020 stood at $157,662 million, an increase of $10,325 million from their level at the end of the previous month. The reserves represent 39.3 percent of GDP (Figure 1).

 
The increase was the result of:

a.       Foreign exchange purchases by the Bank of Israel totaling $810 million.

b.      An absorption of short-term dollar credit totaling $4,500 million from the financial system {1}

c.       A revaluation[2] that increased the reserves by approximately $3,753 million.

d.      Private sector transfers of approximately $91 million.

e.       Government transfers from abroad totaling approximately $1,171 million.

                                                                         Israel's Foreign Exchange Reserves

 ($ million)

Date	Reserves excluding IMF (including reserves bought under the natural gas purchase program)	Reserves at the IMF[1]	Total Foreign Exchange Reserves
July 2019	118,309	1,685	119,994
August 2019	118,134d	1,678d	119,812
September 2019	117,797d	1,672	119,469d
October 2019	119,671	1,690	121,361
November 2019	120,702	1,681	122,383
December 2019	124,253d	1,761d	126,014d
January 2020	128,234d	1,744	129,978d
February 2020	129,451d	1,725	131,176d
March 2020	124,231d	1,710	125,941d
April 2020	131,755d	1,792	133,547d
May 2020	140,650	1,863	142,513
June 2020	145,499	1,838	147,337
July 2020	155,771	1,891	157,662

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¹ Within the framework of the swap transactions program that the Bank announced on March 16, 2020 and March 18, 2020.

2 Includes Bank of Israel payments and receipts in foreign currency.

³ This column includes Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the balance of NAB loans, and the balance of Israel's reserve tranche at the IMF.

        ⁴ Updated after the original date of publication.​