Israel is one of the few countries whose debt has decreased since the outbreak of the global credit crunch. Moody's took favorable notice of the structure of Israel's debt and the surprising fact that Israel's debt financing costs are very low even for a country with an A1 rating.
Moody's cited debt management as one of the strong points of the Israeli economy, in view of the fall to 62.1% in Israel's debt-to-GDP ratio in 2016. Moody's reaffirmed Israel's A1 credit rating in September 2016 and retained its stable outlook for Israel. The agency warns that if the government's determination to keep the debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward path wanes, it is likely to lower Israel's credit rating, while geopolitical crises causing economic upheaval could have the same effect.