The damage to the GDP of Israel as a result of the current restrictions - NIS 2.3 billion per week

The cost of damage to the gross domestic product of the State of Israel as a result of the current restrictions (when trade is closed and the education system for children over the age of 6 is inactive) is NIS 2.3 billion per week; This emerges from a letter sent on Thursday by Chief Economist Shira Greenberg to the director general of the Ministry of Health, Hezi Levy.
Under the Corona Act, the chief economist is obliged to submit, at the end of each month, a report to the Ministry of Health on the economic costs of the existing restrictions as of that day. The Ministry of Health is supposed to forward this report in turn to the Knesset's Constitution Committee, to which the legislative powers regarding the corona were transferred following parliamentary scrutiny by the chairman of the Corona Committee, MK Yifat Shasha Bitton.
In the letter, Greenberg noted that the harm is based on a macro analysis, which took into account the reduction in business activity, the decline in private consumption, a decline in state revenues as well as the effects resulting from projected growth and world trade.
Greenberg clarifies that "a significant part of the damage is due to restrictions on the entire trade industry, whose weekly cost per product is estimated at NIS 1.4 billion." This is against the background of the Ministry of Finance's repeated demand to open up the trade industry, despite opposition from the Ministry of Health.

The rating agency Moody's published on Wednesday an explanation of Israel's credit rating, after last weekend it postponed its rating decision from October 23 to a later date, thus effectively maintaining an A1 rating.
Moody's notes that the main risk to Israel's credit rating is Israel's debt burden, Israel's long-term demographic trends (apparently referring to population growth where employment rates are as low as the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs - etc.) and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Against the background of the polarized political system that also threatens fiscal policy, despite these dangers, the rating outlook is stable, meaning no downgrade is expected, given the strength of the Israeli economy, which is largely based on the high-tech sector, gas reserves and stable institutions.
According to Moody's, the continued increase in government debt due to the failure to control the spread of the corona, or the inability to form a coalition that will meet the challenges of the economy could lead to a downgrade of Israel's rating. What could lead to an increase in the rating - which is unreasonable at this stage against the background of the corona crisis - is an improvement in the ratio of government debt to GDP, high economic growth and a decrease in geopolitical tensions.
Israel's growth forecast by Moody's analysts estimates that this year the economy will contract by 5.5% (compared with a contraction of 4% in the previous forecast from April) and that the debt-to-GDP ratio will jump from 60% to 76.2%. Next year, the growth will be 6% and the debt will climb to a rate of 77.2% of GDP, the rating agency estimates.