"Speculators are playing with our currency, and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that people with hostile elements may want to encourage destabilization here," Motorola Israel managing director Elisha Yanay claimed in an interview with “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal). Asked if he meant speculators from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia, Yanay replied, "Maybe".
Yanay said that movement in the shekel has been 30% in the past year, and claimed, "Nowhere else in the world has such volatility." He added, "We can no longer manage this system."
Yanay said that it was necessary to distinguish two kinds of effects operating on the shekel-dollar exchange rate: the weakness of the dollar on international markets, along with a 15% appreciation of the shekel against the dollar above the global average.
Yanay claimed that nothing can be done about the first effect, and that there is "nothing for anyone to bewail". However, it is possible to act against the second effect by levying a tax on daily capital movements in excels of $5 million or $10 million. He claims that it is possible to "arrest them", though he did not say how.
Yanay went on, "It is essential to deal with the problem differently than we've done until now. The governor of the Bank of Israel is a very smart and experienced man. The problem is that it is now acceptable in the world to let the dollar move freely, which countries like China and India don’t agree with. Movements originating with us here are destructive."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 8, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009