Smotrich maintains Israeli economy ‘strong,’ even after Moody’s downgraded country’s sovereign rating

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich maintains that the Israeli economy is “strong” even after US credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the country’s sovereign rating by two levels.

“Israel’s economy bears the burden of the longest and most expensive war in the country’s history,” says Smotrich. “The Israeli economy is a strong economy that even today attracts investments.”

Late on Friday, Moody’s cut Israel’s credit rating for a second time this year, amid increased intensity of fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and concerns that the economy will be more durably weakened by the military conflict than previously assessed. The rating agency lowered the country’s rating from A2 to Baa1.

Smotrich reassures investors that the government will pass a “responsible budget [for 2025] with required restraint measures.”

“This is a war for our existence that we must continue until victory, to allow us to live many years in peace, security and economic growth,” Smotrich adds. “After we win the war even those who lowered our rating will return it to the real level of the Israeli economy.”