The new Israeli shekel (, ; ;

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

₪ The shekel sign ⟨₪⟩ is a currency sign used for the shekel, the currency of Israel. Israeli new shekel (1986–present) The Israeli new shekel (, ), also known by the acronym NIS ( ), was announced officially on 22 September 1985, when t ...

; ISO code: ILS; unofficial abbreviation: NIS), also known as simply the Israeli shekel (; ), is the

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and is also used as a

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that Standard of deferred payment, courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment in court for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything ...

in the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. The new shekel is divided into 100 agorot. 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 A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned. A symbol may be positioned in various ways, acc ...

for the new shekel is a combination of the first

Hebrew letters The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish ...

of the words ''shekel'' () and ''ẖadash'' () (new). When the shekel sign is unavailable the abbreviation ''NIS'' ( and ) is used.

History

The origin of the name "

shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

" () 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 Ephron is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ephron (biblical figure), Hittite who sold a cave to Abraham according to the Bible *A family of American writers: ** Henry Ephron (1911–1992), father ** Phoebe Ephron (1914 ...

for the

Cave of the Patriarchs The Cave of the Patriarchs or Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews by its Biblical name Cave of Machpelah () and to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham (), is a series of caves situated south of Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the ...

in Hebron (). Shekel is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency in ancient Israel, from the Hebrew root (š-q-l) meaning 'weigh' ( 'to weigh', 'a standard weight'), common with other Semitic languages like Akkadian (resp. and ) and Aramaic (resp. and ). Initially, it may have referred to a weight of

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. In

ancient Israel The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the Israelite highland settlement, early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two ...

, the shekel was known to be about 180

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...

(11

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

s or 0.35

troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in the Kingdom of England in the 15th century and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 p ...

s). From the formation of the modern

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

on 14 May 1948 through 1952 banknotes continued to be issued by the

Anglo-Palestine Bank Bank Leumi (, lit. ''National Bank''; ) is an Israeli bank. It was founded on February 27, 1902, in Jaffa as the ''Anglo Palestine Company'' as subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust () Limited formed before in London by members of the Zionist ...

as the

Palestine pound The Palestine pound or Palestine lira ( []; or פלסטינית לירה ; Currency symbol, symbol: £P), was the currency of the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine from 1 November 1927 to 14 May 1948, and of the State of Israel ...

which was pegged at £P1 = £1 sterling. In 1952, the Anglo-Palestine Bank changed its name to (, 'National Bank of Israel') and the currency name became the

Israeli pound The pound or lira ( 'Lira Yisra'elit'' 'Junayh ʾIsrāʾīlī'' abbreviation: IL in Latin, ל"י in Hebrew; ISO code: ) was the currency of the State of Israel from 9 June 1952 until 23 February 1980. The Israeli pound replaced the Palestine ...

Israeli pound (1952–1980)

The Israeli pound (, ) was the currency of the State of

from June 1952 until it was replaced with the

on 24 February 1980. From 1955, after the

Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel (, ) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. The primary objective of the Bank of Israel is to ...

was established and took over the duty of issuing

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s, only the Hebrew name was used, along with the symbol "IL". The pegging to sterling was abandoned on 1 January 1954, and in 1960, the sub-division of the Israeli pound was changed from 1,000 to 100 . Because () was a loanword from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, a debate emerged in the 1960s over the name of the Israeli currency due to its non-Hebrew origins. This resulted in a law ordering the Minister of Finance to change the name from to the Hebrew name (). The law allowed the minister to decide on the date for the change. The law came into effect in February 1980, when the Israeli government introduced the 'Israeli shekel' (now called

old Israeli shekel The old Israeli shekel, then known as the shekel (, formally ''sheqel'', . , ''Sheqalim''; , ''šēkal,'' formerly '', šēqal'' until 2014; code ), was the currency of the State of Israel between 24 February 1980 and 31 December 1985. It was re ...

), at a rate of IL10 = IS 1.

Shekel (1980–1985)

The original 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

devaluation In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...

s against foreign currencies during the 1960s and 1970s. This trend culminated in the old shekel experiencing

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...

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 to

New shekel (1985–present)

Since the economic crisis of the 1980s and the subsequent introduction of the new shekel in 1985, the

and the

government of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises Executive (government), executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of Minister (government), ministers who are chosen and led by the Prime Minister of Israel, prime ministe ...

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 The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovation. ...

, 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 In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a ...

, with a current account surplus equivalent to about 3% of its GDP in 2010. Consequently, its currency has strengthened though less so than an exceptional rise in the Euro and Swiss Franc, rising approximately 20% in value relative to the US dollar from 2001 to 2011, contrasting to weakening in prior decades. Since 1 January 2003, the new shekel has been a freely

convertible currency Convertibility is the quality that allows money or other financial instruments to be converted into other liquid stores of value. Convertibility is an important factor in international trade, where instruments valued in different currencies mu ...

. Since 7 May 2006, new shekel

derivative In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is t ...

trading has also been available on the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is an American derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board ...

. This makes the new shekel one of only twenty or so world currencies for which there are widely available currency

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item tr ...

s in the

foreign exchange market The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, ...

. 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. The shekel in modern times is often highly volatile caused by Israel's policies, with many countries since 2023 refusing to economically cooperate with Israel.

Coins

In 1985, coins in denominations of 1 agora, 5 agorot, 10 agorot, ₪, and ₪1 were introduced. In 1990, ₪5 coins were introduced, followed by ₪10 coins in 1995. Production of 1 agora pieces ceased in 1990, and they were removed from circulation on 1 April 1991. A ₪2 coin was introduced on 9 December 2007. The 5 agorot coin, last minted in 2007, 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 (KOMSCO). In 2022, the Bank of Israel announced a new series of coins featuring updated inscriptions for its coins, with "new shekels" replacing "new sheqalim". The 5 and 10 new shekel coins will be the first to feature the new inscriptions, and the 10 agorot and new shekel coins will feature its unit names rendered in Arabic. * Note that all dates on Israeli coins are given in the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...

and are written in

Hebrew numerals The system of Hebrew numerals is a quasi-decimal alphabetic numeral system using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The system was adapted from that of the Greek numerals sometime between 200 and 78 BCE, the latter being the date of the earlie ...

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 on 19 August 1986. On 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 notes engraved on them.

Series B (1999–2017)

The Second series of bank notes was released in 1999, replacing the first series by 2005. A plan to issue a banknote, carrying the portrait of

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

, 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.

Series C (2014–present)

The committee proposed that the new series would bear the portraits of prominent Hebrew poets, among them

Rachel Bluwstein Rachel Bluwstein Sela (; 20 September (Julian calendar) 1890 – 16 April 1931) was a Hebrew-language poet who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine, in 1909. She is known by her first name, Rachel ( ), or as Rachel the Poetess ( ). She is featu ...

Shaul Tchernichovsky Shaul Tchernichovsky () or Saul Gutmanovich Tchernichovsky (; 20 August 1875 – 14 October 1943) was a Russian-born Hebrew poet. He is considered one of the great Hebrew poets, identified with nature poetry, and a poet greatly influenced by the ...

Leah Goldberg Leah Goldberg or Lea Goldberg (; May 29, 1911, Königsberg – January 15, 1970, Jerusalem) was a prolific Hebrew-language poet, author, playwright, literary translator, illustrater and painter, and comparative literary researcher. Her wri ...

and

Nathan Alterman Nathan Alterman (; August 14, 1910 – March 28, 1970) was an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Though never holding any elected office, Alterman was highly influential in Labor Zionist politics, both before and after the es ...

. In December 2010, it was announced that the series would feature portraits of

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

, Rachel, and

Shmuel Yosef Agnon Shmuel Yosef Agnon (; August 8, 1887 – February 17, 1970) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Israeli novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew literature. In Hebrew, he is known by the pseudonym Shai A ...

. 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

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'' (from ).. The new notes also used the Arabic ''(šaykal)'' rather than ''(šayqal)'', which had been used on all banknotes previously. The banknotes are printed by Orell Füssli Security Printing of Switzerland.

Exchange rates

References

Shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

Circulating currencies 1985 establishments in Israel Currencies introduced in 1986 Cultural depictions of Golda Meir Shekel Currencies of Asia