The extent of the grave financial crisis facing Israel was bared in the Supreme Court here today when a representative of the Finance Ministry, appearing in a case before the court, testified that Israel’s currency was only backed by two percent of its value in foreign currency.
The Finance Ministry official stated that the Treasury held only 2,000,000 pounds in foreign currency as coverage for 100,000,000 pounds of currency in circulation. He said that when the Jewish state was established in May, 1948, the entire currency in circulation was backed by foreign exchange holdings and that some two years later, in the summer of 1950, the currency in circulation was supported to the extent of 45 percent.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
