Full Press Release, including graphs and data
- In the fourth quarter of 2022, the balance of assets held abroad by Israeli residents increased by approximately $25 billion (about 4 percent), to about $643 billion at the end of December. The increase was mainly due to a rise in the prices of foreign securities held by Israelis.
- Outstanding liabilities to abroad increased by approximately $4 billion (about 1 percent) in the fourth quarter, to about $475 billion at the end of the quarter. The increase was primarily due to growth in the balance of direct investments, which was partly offset by realizations in the tradable securities portfolio.
- Israel’s surplus of assets over liabilities vis-à-vis abroad increased in the fourth quarter by approximately $21 billion (about 14 percent), to about $168 billion at the end of the quarter.
- The surplus of assets over liabilities vis-à-vis abroad in debt instruments alone (negative net external debt) increased during the fourth quarter by about $11 billion (5 percent), to approximately $207 billion at the end of December.
- The ratio of gross external debt to GDP increased by 0.3 percentage points during the course of the third quarter, to about 29.8 percent at the end of December. The decline in the debt to GDP ratio in the third quarter reflected a decline of about 3 percent in the balance of external debt and an increase of about 1 percent in GDP (in dollar terms).