All eyes on QE as Bank of #Israel expected to hold interest rate | Reuters

All eyes on QE as Bank of Israel expected to hold interest rate | Reuters

The Bank of Israel is expected to leave short-term interest rates unchanged this week for its 10th straight policy meeting, as debate continues over inflation gains.

All 16 economists polled by Reuters believe the monetary policy committee (MPC) will keep the benchmark rate at an all-time low of 0.1% when the decision is announced on Monday at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT).

With the rate expected to remain on hold for at least another year and some projecting 2023, analysts are looking to the central bank for decisions on extending government bond purchases and to keep buying foreign currency to add to its record level of reserves in a bid to contain the strong shekel.

In addition to the rates announcement, the Bank of Israel will simultaneously issue updates to its 2021 and 2022 macro forecasts and governor Amir Yaron will hold his quarterly news conference at 1315 GMT.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to spiking bond yields, the central bank began a quantitative easing (QE) programme in March 2020, saying it would buy as much as 50 billion shekels ($15 billion) of government bonds. In October, the level was raised to 85 billion.