Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the decision of the international rating agency Fitch to lower Israel’s sovereign credit rating from A+ to A, while maintaining a negative outlook.
Netanyahu called the credit rating downgrade a consequence of the war and expressed confidence that after Israel defeats Hamas, the credit rating will be raised again. “Israel’s economy is strong and functioning well, and the credit rating downgrade is due to the war on several fronts that was imposed on Israel,” the head of government emphasized.
Let us recall that the international rating agency Fitch published a decision to lower Israel’s sovereign credit rating from A+ to A, while maintaining a negative outlook. The other two leading agencies lowered Israel’s rating several months ago: S&P to A+ with a negative outlook, and Moody’s to A2 (similar to A in the other two agencies) with a negative outlook.
According to Fitch analysts, the optimism of the Israeli Finance Ministry is unjustified, and the state budget deficit, currently at 8.1% of GDP, will amount to 7.8% by the end of the year, rather than the 6.6% budgeted for in the state budget.