On September 20, 2016, the Monetary Committee announced its decision to reduce, during 2017, the frequency of interest rate decisions to 8 times per year. Accordingly, several alternative dates for reaching and publicizing the interest rate decisions were examined, taking into account the publication dates of major economic data, Jewish holidays, and other considerations. The change in frequency of the decisions will begin in February 2017. The interest rate decisions will generally continue to be published on Mondays, except for dates when various operational considerations do not allow it. The dates of the interest rate decisions are listed in the table below:

Date
Day of the week
Includes publication of the Research Department’s staff forecast and the holding of a quarterly press briefing*
January 23, 2017
Monday
 
February 27, 2017
Monday
 
April 6, 2017
Thursday
+
May 29, 2017
Monday
 
July 10, 2017
Monday
+
August 29, 2017
Tuesday
 
October 19, 2017
Thursday
+
November 27, 2017
Monday
 
The dates of interest rate decisions for 2018 will be published in 2017.
 
* In 2017, there will in fact be 3 press briefings, not 4. However, this is the result of the switch to 8 annual decisions. The final press briefing for 2016 will be conducted at the end of December 2016. Beginning in 2018, there will be 4 press briefings per year—in January, April, July and October.