Israel’s financial community received a major compliment last Friday. The Fitch ratings agency confirmed that Israel had survived the global economic crisis significantly stronger than many of its economic competitors.

The current outlook remains stable, although a warning was sounded, regarding the high public sector debt ratio. By 2008, it had fallen to 78%, but had started to rise ominously in 2009.

Israel’s credit rating remained unchanged, impressive when you consider that 44 countries have been down graded in recent months.

Fitch’s announcement confirms similar finding from Moody’s and from S&P.

The importance of such announcements should not be diminished. They enable Israel to raise money effectively on international financial markets. In parallel, the decisions of overseas investors can turn on such ratings.