news brief Bank of Israel raises interest rate to 4.25%

The Bank of Israel's Monetary Committee decided yesterday to raise the interest rate by 0.5% to 4.25% – the highest since 2008 – to fight the pressure of rising inflation and a weakening shekel.

Inflation over the last 12 months is above the upper bound of the target, standing at 5.4%.

The committee also said that Israel’s GDP grew in 2022 by 6.5% and has been above the pre-crisis trend for the last five quarters.