Moody’s announced Saturday that it has lowered Israel’s economic forecast from “positive” to “stable.”
Fear of weakening Israel’s judiciary was cited as one of the reasons for dropping the outlook for Israel’s economy – a fear that is largely unjustified, but which is being spread and reinforced in disinformation by opposition lawmakers who lost the national election last November.
Among those who are working hard to discredit the government’s efforts to rebalance Israel’s judicial system is opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairperson Yair Lapid, who served as caretaker prime minister prior to the elections. Lapid is one of the driving forces behind the 15-week-long nationwide demonstrations protesting the judicial reforms along with efforts to topple the government altogether.
In a joint statement Saturday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich confirmed that Israel’s economic is “stable and solid” and “with God’s help, it will remain so.”
In their statement, Netanyahu and Smotrich said the analysts of the Moody’s rating agency “correctly recognize the strength of the Israeli economy in all indicators and the correct and responsible economic leadership [of the government] in the wise management of public spending and promotion of growth-encouraging reforms.
“The composition of public spending and the reduction of the national debt support will continue to support the growth of the economy and the increase of growth and productivity, as well as the reduction of regulation, investment in the integration of populations in the employment market and the creation of a more competitive and efficient free market environment,” Netanyahu and Smotrich said.
“We are passing a responsible, growth- and infrastructure-oriented budget and maintaining the budget frameworks in order to fight inflation and the cost of living, and promote a dramatic settlement law that will allow the acceleration of national infrastructure projects, the removal of barriers in the field of housing and imports, the reduction of regulation and bureaucracy, the promotion of competition in the capital market and the banking industry and the fight against black capital as a major generator of crime organized to restore governance and personal security,” they said.
“The concern that Moody’s analysts raise about the public controversy and its effect on Israel’s political and economic stability is natural for those who do not know the strength of Israeli society.
“As those who believe in the strength of Israeli society, its unity and its ability to overcome disputes and crises, as we have done many times in the past, we are convinced that with God’s help it will be so this time as well.
“The State of Israel is a strong democracy and as a result the citizens of Israel maintain a lively discourse on issues that are a bone of contention within Israeli society, and which are signs of the strength of Israeli democracy.
“By their very nature, intense political disputes lead to protest and can create temporary uncertainty,” they noted. “These are risks that are taken into account and hedged within the economic assessments of the State of Israel.
“There will be no damage to Israeli democracy and the Israeli economy, and we will continue to lead a responsible economic, security and social policy and do everything for a stable, growing and prosperous Israeli economy.”
