Bethel Finance news:
The Bank of Israel has left the interest rate for May unchanged at 3%. Most analysts had predicted that Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer, who raised the interest rate by 0.5% last month to 3%, would raise the interest rate by a further 0.25%, though some analysts had suggested he would keep it unchanged.
In citing the main considerations behind its decision, the Bank of Israel mentioned the appreciation of the shekel and lower inflationary expectations.
The Bank of Israel noted, "The recent appreciation of the shekel and the recent increases in the interest rate are expected to moderate the rate of inflation in the coming months."
The bank added, "Inflation expectations for the next twelve months derived from the capital market declined, due in part to the increase in the interest rate for May. However, at 3.1%, similar to the average of the forecasters’ expectations which did not change this month, the expectations are still above the upper limit of the inflation target range. Inflation expectations for periods longer than a year also declined, and most are now within the target range."
On housing prices the Bank of Israel said, "House prices continued to increase this month, and in the last twelve months have risen by 16.1%. The balance of housing credit increased by 12.8% in the twelve months to February 2011. About 80% of housing loans granted in March were at floating interest rates. Against the background of these developments, the Bank of Israel is considering the introduction in the near future of additional measures in the housing credit field."
No comments:
Post a Comment