(Israel Hayom via JNS) The U.S. dollar hit a 25-year low against the shekel this week, officially dropping below the benchmark that the Bank of Israel had hoped to avoid crossing. The euro also dropped sharply against the shekel and was traded at an exchange rate of 3.511 shekels to 1 euro.

This is not just a problem of a weak U.S. dollar, due to America’s fiscal and financial policies vis-à-vis debt and government spending as a percentage of GDP. All of the world’s major convertible currencies were down against the shekel.

As was reported by Israel Hayom, in the coming days Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman is expected to declare a series of steps to encourage exporters and compensate them for the strengthening shekel. Over the past year the shekel has strengthened by more than 10 % against the U.S. dollar.

Yaron, who for the time being appears to want to allow the shekel to get stronger, and views the rising inflation in the world as temporary, said: “The market picture is completely different now, and the strengthening shekel could somewhat curb global inflation.”