Four days later the ratings agency affirmed Israel’s rating at A+, with a stable outlook, some nine notches ahead of Egypt.
“Israel’s public finances remain a weakness relative to ‘A’ category sovereigns, despite a strong trend of improvement in recent years,” Fitch says. Israel’s budget deficit widened from 1.9% of GDP in 2017 to 2.9% last year and Fitch forecasts it to widen even further to 3.5% of GDP in 2019 before narrowing to 3.0% in 2020. (CONTINUED - 166 WORDS)