After Moody’s, S&P downgrades Israel’s credit rating

Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency downgraded Israel’s long-term rating from A+ to A, a few days after Moody’s downgraded Tel Aviv’s credit rating, which the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth considered another “severe blow” to the country’s economy.

According to the Anadolu Agency, Standard & Poor’s, which is considered one of the largest credit rating companies in the world, changed its future outlook for Israel’s economy to “negative.”

It attributed the decision, issued on Tuesday/Wednesday night, to the increasing security risks in light of the escalation of events in the conflict with Hezbollah, in addition to the risk of a more direct war with Iran.

It said that the increasing likelihood that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah will prolong and intensify poses security risks to Israel.

The newspaper considered that the agency’s downgrade of Israel’s credit rating came “immediately, and earlier than expected.”

It pointed out that Standard & Poor’s expects zero growth for the Israeli economy this year, due to the escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah, and a deficit of 9%.

On Friday, Moody’s downgraded Israel’s credit rating to “Baa1” from “A2”, and maintained its negative outlook on the rating.

Standard & Poor’s decision coincides with Iran’s announcement on Tuesday that it had launched dozens of missiles at Israel (180 according to Tel Aviv’s estimate), causing human casualties, material damage, and the closure of airspace, while millions of Israelis rushed to shelters while sirens sounded throughout the country.

In the same context, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his speech during a meeting of the Security Cabinet that “Iran made a big mistake tonight (by attacking Israel), and it will pay the price.” Sirens sounded in dozens of cities and towns in southern and central Israel, according to Haaretz and Channel 7, while army spokesman Daniel Hagari called in a televised statement not to circulate videos of Iranian missiles falling. According to observers, Israel is keeping quiet about the human and material losses resulting from its war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and prevents filming and the circulation of photos and video clips, and warns against providing any information to the media in this regard, except through media outlets subject to its strict supervision.