Israel Matzav

Moody's downgrades Israel's outlook

Moody's, the US credit rating agency, has downgraded Israel's banking system's outlook from stable to negative.

The Moody’s report cited an expected slackening in Israel’s economic growth as well as the economic and security challenges facing the country as the reason for the negative rating. The report also said that there is a problem with the asset quality of Israeli banks due to a high concentration of domestic lending to large corporations.

“The negative outlook reflects the projected slowdown in economic growth and the country’s challenging operating environment which will continue over the 12-18 month outlook period,” Moody’s wrote in a press release.

The agency tempered its downgrade, though, saying Jerusalem had proven itself capable of weathering economic storms before.

“Moody’s acknowledges that Israel’s economy has proven resilient to repeated shocks in the past,” it wrote.

I wish the rating agencies would get on the banks here for fleecing the small consumer. This is the only country in the world where the banks make most of their money on family accounts like yours and mine.

Labels: credit ratings, Israeli banks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:49 AM