Moody’s lowers Israel’s credit rating for 2nd time this year, amid Hezbollah escalation
US rating agency Moody’s downgraded Israel’s credit rating for a second time this year on Friday, doing so this time by two notches, while citing the increased intensity of the fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and the lack of an Israeli “exit strategy.”
The prominent credit rating agency cut Israel’s score from A2 to Baa1, raising concerns that domestic political risks have increased alongside geopolitical ones “with material negative consequences for the country’s creditworthiness in both the near and longer term.”
A lower credit rating makes it more expensive for the Israeli government to raise debt at a time when it needs billions of shekels to fund the costs of the ongoing war and while investors see more risk to invest in the country. [Continue reading…]