NewsBits: Israel’s Economy

The following are items appearing on other Web sites of interest to our world of Jewish philanthropy.

Mixed news from Israel today (1:30 pm IST) as the dollar / shekel exchange spot rate hits 3.759.

from the Jerusalem Post:

Dollar gains momentum amid global market havoc

As the world’s central banks, including the Bank of Israel, cut interest rates to calm tumbling stock markets and try to preempt a recession, the greenback is gaining momentum.

On Thursday, the shekel weakened substantially against the dollar and the euro. The shekel-dollar representative exchange rate rose just over 2 percent and was set at 3.70.

The shekel-euro representative rate surged 1.2% to 4.99.

from Haaretz:

Israel fears 4,000 jobs may be lost this year amid world financial crisis

Stock markets around the world took a nosedive Thursday, and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange responded in kind: The blue-chip Tel Aviv-25 index fell by 2.8% and the broader TA-100 by 3.1%. But while Tel Aviv’s declines were modest compared to those of Asian and European markets, the ongoing global financial crisis is sparking local fears of a rise in unemployment in the coming months: Thursday, the National Insurance Institute predicted that the ranks of Israel’s jobless would swell by some 4,000 people by the end of the year.