The Shekel was devalued again today for the second consecutive day. It dropped by 1.1 percent following a 2.6 percent devaluation decreed by the Bank of Israel yesterday.
Finance Minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad and Bank of Israel officials said they did not anticipate any further small devaluations in the near future because the gap between the Shekel and inflation has been sufficiently narrowed. The Shekel has fallen in value by about 13 percent this month after dropping at an average rate of nine percent a month since the first of the year.
The back-to-back devaluations caused concern and confusion on Lillienbaum Street in Tel Aviv, the country’s black market money center which has been flourishing since the early days of the State without police intervention.
Nervous black marketeers, uncertain of where the Shekel will be tomorrow, lurked in doorways clutching their currency-filled paper bags but refusing to buy or sell. Later, when the new official rate of 230.30 Shekels to $1.00 was announced, the black market rate, circulated by word-of-mouth, was set at 295 Shekels to the Dollar, a 28 percent difference.
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