Israeli opposition leader: Israel is drowning in economic quagmire
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday described Moody’s decision to downgrade Israel’s credit rating by two notches as an indication that the country is sinking into economic mire due to mismanagement.
This came in an interview conducted with him by the Israeli Public Radio today, against the backdrop of the downgrading of Israel’s credit rating by the international agency Moody’s.
“When Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that Moody’s downgrading of Israel’s credit rating was due to the war, we shouldn’t believe him,” Lapid said.
“We’re mired in economic turmoil due to mismanagement,” he added.
On Friday evening, Moody’s downgraded Israel’s credit rating by two notches to Baa1 from A2, its lowest level ever.
Moody’s, which had previously downgraded Israel’s credit rating this year, said that the main reason for the downgrade is that geopolitical risks have increased significantly to very high levels, with material negative consequences for Israel’s creditworthiness in the near and long term.
The new classification means that Israel’s attraction to issuing external debt instruments will be costly for it and will confuse investors in buying debt instruments, due to the high risks surrounding them.
Regarding the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Lapid said, “I am not against military operations or the use of force, but there must be a decision regarding our political vision”.
The opposition leader asked, “Is Israel setting strategic goals for itself at this time?”
He asked Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, “Why didn’t you do this 8 months ago?”
