Israeli new shekel
The Israeli new shekel, also known as simply the Israeli shekel, is the currency of Israel and is also used as a legal tender in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The new shekel is divided into 100 agora. The new shekel has been in use since 1 January 1986, when it replaced the hyperinflated old shekel at a ratio of 1000:1.
The currency sign for the new shekel is a combination of the first Hebrew letters of the words shekel and ẖadash . It was previously known as the new Israeli shekel and the non-official abbreviation of NIS is still commonly used domestically to denominate prices and also appears on the Bank of Israel's web site. However, the official international currency code of the Israeli new shekel is ILS, as set by the International Organization for Standardization under ISO 4217.
History
The origin of the name "shekel" is from the ancient Biblical currency by the same name. An early Biblical reference is Abraham being reported to pay "four hundred shekels of silver" to Ephron the Hittite for the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Shekel is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency in ancient Israel, from the Hebrew root ש-ק-ל meaning 'weigh', common with other Semitic languages like Akkadian and Aramaic. Initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley. In ancient Israel, the shekel was known to be about 180 grains.From the formation of the modern State of Israel on 14 May 1948 through 1952 banknotes continued to be issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank as the Palestine pound which was pegged to the British Pound. In 1952, the Anglo-Palestine Bank changed its name to Bank Leumi Le-Yisrael and the currency name became the Israeli pound.
Israeli pound (1952–1980)
The Israeli pound was the currency of the State of Israel from June 1952 until 23 February 1980, when it was replaced with the shekel on 24 February 1980. From 1955, after the Bank of Israel was established and took over the duty of issuing banknotes, only the Hebrew name was used, along with the symbol "I£". The pegging to the British Pound was abolished on 1 January 1954, and in 1960, the sub-division of the Israeli pound was changed from 1000 prutot to 100 agorot.During the 1960s, a debate over the non-Hebrew name of the Israeli currency resulted in a law ordering the Minister of Finance to change the name pound into a Hebrew name, shekel. The law allowed the minister to decide on a proper date for the change. The law did not come into effect until February 1980, when the Israeli government decided to change the monetary system and introduce the shekel at a rate of 1 shekel = I£10.
Shekel (1980–1985)
The shekel, now known as the old shekel, was the currency of the State of Israel between 24 February 1980 and 31 December 1985. Both it and its predecessor the Israeli pound experienced frequent devaluations against foreign currencies during the 1960s and '70s. This trend culminated in the old shekel experiencing hyperinflation in the early 1980s. After inflation was contained as a result of the 1985 Economic Stabilization Plan, the new shekel was introduced, replacing the old shekel on 1 January 1986 at a rate of toNew shekel (1985–present)
Since the economic crisis of the 1980s and the subsequent introduction of the new shekel in 1985, the Bank of Israel and the government of Israel have maintained much more careful and conservative fiscal and monetary policies, and have gradually introduced various market-based economic reforms. In addition, the signing of free trade agreements helped the Israeli economy become more competitive, while heavy investment in its industrial and scientific base allowed the country to take advantage of opportunities associated with the rise of the global knowledge economy, thus greatly increasing exports and opening new markets for its products and services. As a result of these factors, inflation has been relatively low and the country now maintains a positive balance of payments, with a current account surplus equivalent to about 3% of its GDP in 2010. Consequently, its currency has strengthened considerably, rising approximately 20% in value relative to the US dollar in the 2000s decade, thereby reversing the trend of historical weakness the Israeli currency exhibited in the decades prior.Since 1 January 2003, the new shekel has been a freely convertible currency. Since 7 May 2006, new shekel derivative trading has also been available on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This makes the new shekel one of only twenty or so world currencies for which there are widely available currency futures contracts in the foreign exchange market. It is also a currency that can be exchanged by consumers in many parts of the world. On 26 May 2008, CLS Bank International announced that it would settle payment instructions in new shekels, making the currency fully convertible.
Coins
In 1985, coins in denominations of 1 agora, 5 and 10 agorot and and ₪1 were introduced. In 1990, coins were introduced, followed by coins in 1995. Production of 1 agora pieces ceased in 1990, and they were removed from circulation on 1 April 1991. A coin was introduced on 9 December 2007. The 5 agorot coin, last minted in 2006, was removed from circulation on 1 January 2008.In April 2011, it was reported that new coins would be minted that would use less metal and thus lower costs. Counterfeiting would also be harder. The Bank of Israel is considering dropping the word "new" on the planned coins series. If approved, this would be the first replacement of all coins since the introduction of the new shekel coins in September 1985. The coins are minted by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation.
- Note that all dates on Israeli coins are given in the Hebrew calendar and are written in Hebrew numerals.
Banknotes
Series A (1985–1999)
Beginning on 4 September 1985. banknotes are introduced in denominations of ₪10, and ₪50. An note followed on 8 May 1986 and the note issued in 19 August 1986. In 2 April 1988, the note issued and the note issued on 16 February 1992 completing the family. The ₪5 and ₪10 notes used the same basic designs as the earlier 5000, and notes but with the denominations altered.The ₪5 and ₪10 notes were later replaced by coins. A number of these coins, in their first minting, had the images of the individuals on the bills engraved on them.
| Image | Value | Dimensions | Colour | Obverse | Reverse | Date of issue | Date of withdrawal |
| ₪1 | 76x 138 mm | green | Maimonides | Tiberias where Maimonides is buried; Ancient stone lamp | 8 May 1986 | 1995 | |
| ₪5 | 76x 138 mm | blue | Levi Eshkol | Pipe carrying water, symbolizing the national carrier, fields and barren land in background | 4 September 1985 | 1995 | |
| ₪10 | 76x 138 mm | orange | Golda Meir | Picture of Golda Meir in the crowd, in front of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, as she arrived in Moscow as Israel's ambassador in 1948 | 4 September 1985 | 1995 | |
| ₪20 | 76x 138 mm | dark gray | Moshe Sharett | The original building of Herzliya Gymnasium, Little Tel Aviv in background | 2 April 1988 | 1 July 2000 | |
| ₪50 | 76x 138 mm | purple | Shmuel Yosef Agnon | Jerusalem skyline, Eastern European shtetl, the setting of many of Agnon's stories. | 4 September 1985 | 1 July 2000 | |
| ₪100 | 76x 138 mm | brown | Yitzhak Ben-Zvi | Peki'in Synagogue with carob tree and cave, Ancient stone lamp | 19 August 1986 | 1 July 2000 | |
| ₪200 | 76x 138 mm | red | Zalman Shazar | A girl writing at a desk as a symbol of the Compulsory Education Law which was initiated by Shazar, and Hebrew block letters in background | 16 February 1992 | 1 July 2000 |
Series B (1999–2017)
The Second series of bank notes was released in 1999, replacing the first series by 2005. A plan to issue an banknote, carrying the portrait of Yitzhak Rabin, was announced shortly after Rabin's assassination in 1995. However, due to low inflation rates, there was no need for such a banknote and it was never issued.| Image | Value | Dimensions | Colour | Obverse | Reverse | Date of issue |
| 71x 138 mm | Green | Moshe Sharett | Jewish volunteers in World War II; a watchtower, commemorating tower and stockade settlements | 3 January 1999 | ||
| 71x 138 mm | Green | Moshe Sharett | Jewish volunteers in World War II; a watchtower, commemorating tower and stockade settlements. The additional red text on the polypropylene note reads "60 Years of the State of Israel" in Hebrew in red ink. It was only featured in a 1.8 million limited run close to the noted anniversary and is not present on a majority of notes. | 13 April 2008 | ||
| 71x 138 mm | Purple | Shmuel Yosef Agnon | Agnon's notebook, pen and glasses, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount | 31 October 1999 | ||
| 71x 138 mm | Brown | Yitzhak Ben-Zvi | Peki'in Synagogue | 3 January 1999 | ||
| 71x 138 mm | Red | Zalman Shazar | a street in Safed and text from Shazar's essay about Safed | 31 October 1999 | ||
| 71x 138 mm | Blue | Yitzhak Rabin | Part of a speech given by the late Prime Minister shortly before his assassination | Never printed |
Series C (2014–present)
The committee proposed that the new series would bear the portraits of prominent Hebrew poets, among them Rachel Bluwstein, Shaul Tchernichovsky, Leah Goldberg and Nathan Alterman. In December 2010, it was announced that the series would feature portraits of Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, and Rachel and Shmuel Yosef Agnon. When Begin's family opposed the decision, the committee's original proposal was readopted.On 14 November 2012, the Bank of Israel announced that the new series of banknotes is in the final stages of design. The first of the new banknotes to begin circulation was in the ₪50 denomination on 16 September 2014, followed by the ₪200 note on 23 December 2015. The final two denominations, ₪20 and ₪100, were issued on 23 November 2017, completing the "Series C" banknote series.
With the issuing of the third series, the Bank of Israel has adopted the standard English spelling of shekel and plural shekels for its currency. Previously, the Bank had formally used the Hebrew transcriptions of sheqel and sheqalim.
The banknotes are printed by Orell Füssli Security Printing of Switzerland.