Israel’s Faceoff With Moody’s Over Rating Downgrade Ignored by Markets
- Rothenberg questions rationale behind Moody’s rating decision
- Israel officials have been indignant over first-ever downgrade
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Israel is in a pique over its first-ever rating downgrade that’s so far left markets unmoved but led to worry the government’s standing with investors could suffer as it embarks on near-record borrowing to fund the war.
The announcement last week by Moody’s Investors Service already prompted an unusually strong rebuke from officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called into question the politics behind the decision. A top technocrat at the Finance Ministry’s office known as the “government’s CFO” has now added a voice to the debate by marshaling figures he argues are at odds with the rating company’s rationale for its one-notch cut to A2.