Fitch upgrades Israel

Fitch Ratings said it upgraded Israel's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to A+ from A.

The issue ratings on Israel's senior unsecured foreign- and local-currency bonds also were are upgraded to A+ from A.

The agency also said it upgraded the short-term foreign- and local-currency issue default ratings to F1+ from F1 and country ceiling to AA from AA-.

The outlook is stable.

The upgrades follow the continued strengthening of Israel's external balance sheet, Fitch explained.

The country has returned annual current account surpluses each year since 2003, the agency said, and in 2015 posted a record surplus of 4.6% of GDP.

However, the current account surplus narrowed by about 20% year-over-year in the first half of 2016 because of a worsening trade balance, Fitch added.

Nevertheless, there has been further accumulation of foreign-exchange reserves, the agency said.

Israel also benefits from high financing flexibility, Fitch said.

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