Bank of Israel - Press Releases - The Bank of Israel changes the structure of the report to the public on the interest rate decision
Central bank: boi | Type: statement | Date: 2017-03-28

Beginning with the upcoming interest rate
decision, the structure of the notices will be changed.  The new structure will be shorter, and will
present the economic situation as seen by the Monetary Committee during the
discussion held to reach its decision on the interest rate.  The beginning of the notice will present a
few short sentences summarizing the state of the economy, and will be followed
by a broader review of the economy.  The
verbal details of the changes in the economic variables since the last decision
(“background conditions”) will be replaced by a separate file that will be
published together with the notice, which will contain graphs and tables that
will include the main data presented to the Monetary Committee by the various
departments in the Bank during the discussion in the broad forum prior to the
decision.  This structure is consistent
with the lower frequency of interest rate decisions, and gives greater weight
to analysis of the fundamental trends.
The summary of the Committee’s discussions
that is published two weeks after the decision will include only a report on
the discussion held by the Committee in the narrow forum in order to reach the
decision.
Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug
said, “We are constantly examining how to improve the communication of monetary
policy to the public and how to make it clearer and more transparent.  As part of this effort, we began holding
quarterly press briefings two years ago regarding monetary policy.  The change in the structure of the notice is
another step intended to help the public better understand the Monetary
Committee’s considerations in making its decisions.”​