Skip to content
All Currency Converter

Exchange rates and conversions

Israeli Shekel (ILS)

The new shekel (ILS) is the official currency of Israel, issued by the Bank of Israel and shown with the ₪ sign. It was introduced on 1 January 1986, replacing the old shekel at a thousand to one, to draw a line under the hyperinflation of the preceding years.

Updated Sep 19, 2026, 12:02 AM

ILS
From
To

Converted amount

2.87 EUR

1 ILS = 0.28738 EUR · 1 EUR = 3.4797 ILS

ILSEUR

Updated Sep 19, 2026, 12:02 AM

ILS against the major currencies

The figure shown is the mid-market rate: the midpoint between the buy and sell price, updated hourly. It is the rate before any margin is added, so a bank or a bureau de change will quote you a lower one.

About the Israeli Shekel

Shekel is one of the oldest words in money, an ancient Near Eastern unit of weight long before it was a coin. Modern Israel went through three currencies in quick succession: the Palestine pound gave way to the Israeli lira in 1952, the lira to the shekel in 1980, and the shekel to the new shekel in 1986. That last change was the visible part of the 1985 stabilisation plan, which combined a temporary freeze on wages and prices, deep budget cuts and an end to financing the deficit by printing money, and brought inflation down from triple digits within about a year.

Currency controls were dismantled through the 1990s and removed entirely at the start of 2003, making the new shekel fully convertible; it was admitted to the CLS settlement system in 2008, which is one reason it is quoted continuously and appears in most conversion tools. Israel's technology exports bring in a steady flow of foreign currency that has to be converted into shekels, a structural force pushing the currency up, and the Bank of Israel has at times bought foreign currency to moderate that pressure. In English the currency is often abbreviated NIS, for new Israeli shekel, while ILS is the ISO code.

The new shekel is legal tender in Israel and is in general circulation in the Palestinian territories, where it is used alongside the Jordanian dinar and the US dollar.

ILS at a glance

Symbol
Subunit
100 agorot (singular agora)
Central bank
Bank of Israel, founded 1954
Introduced
1 January 1986
ISO 4217 code
ILS

FAQ

What is the Israeli new shekel?

The new shekel is the official currency of Israel, written ILS under the ISO 4217 standard and shown with the ₪ sign. It is issued by the Bank of Israel and divided into 100 agorot. It has been in use since 1 January 1986.

Why is it called the new shekel?

It replaced an earlier currency, also called the shekel, which had been introduced in 1980 and was destroyed by hyperinflation. In 1986 the new shekel took its place at a thousand old shekels to one new one, as part of a stabilisation plan that ended the inflation. The word new stayed in the official name and has never been dropped.

What is the difference between NIS and ILS?

They are two names for the same currency. NIS is the common English abbreviation of new Israeli shekel and is what you will see written in Israel; ILS is the ISO 4217 code used by banks, exchanges and conversion tools. A price marked NIS and a rate quoted in ILS refer to exactly the same unit.

Follow the ILS from your phone

The app converts ILS into 148 currencies, offline included, and keeps your favourite pairs one tap away.

See all