Treasury: We won't intervene in forex market

"We promised to help exporters, and we will do so, but not by intervening in the foreign currency market."
A Finance Ministry official vehemently denied reports today that the ministry will provide exchange rate support for exporters. "The Ministry of Finance won't intervene in the foreign currency market," a ministry official told "Globes" today. "We promised to help exporters, and we will do so, but not by intervening in the foreign currency market. We'll help them through guarantees, an aid fund for exporters, and by increasing support for ASHRA - The Israel Export Insurance Corporation Ltd. We'll seek solutions in this spirit."
The Manufacturers Association of Israel has been intensely lobbying the government in recent weeks to solve the problem of the low shekel-dollar exchange rate, which is battering exporters. A senior economic official was quoted this morning as saying, "The government will propose an exchange rate support mechanism."

Ministry of Finance officials have not heard about this, and ridicule it. A ministry official said, "This is a trial balloon by someone with no responsibility for the matter." The official's comment implies that that someone is at the Prime Minister's Office.
The Ministry of Finance official added, "Our position was, and has not changed, that help should definitely be given, because exporters face real hardships, and exports are critical for the economy, but we won't intervene in the foreign currency market. The Bank of Israel is totally with us on this. It's easy to sit in a comfortable office and toss out all kinds of comments without having to take responsibility for them, but the people who actually have to take responsibility should act responsibly. We'll continue to examine options for solving the problem."
Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh told "Globes", "It's simply not possible to sit with arms folded and let exports fall, because then the economy will fold, and we won't be there when the world begins to emerge from the crisis." As chairman of the Economics Organizations Liaison Committee, Brosh initiated the convening of Round Table to deal with the problem of the dollar.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate fell another 0.3% in morning inter-bank trading today to NIS 3.749/$.