Graps & Data​

 

For more details on the definitions, terms and explanations, see “The Credit Information System in Israel” in Part Two of the Statistical Bulletin for 2015.
 
 
Business sector debt increased in the fourth quarter of 2015 by about NIS 2.4 billion (0.3 percent), to about NIS 809 billion. Household debt increased in the fourth quarter by about NIS 7.5 billion (1.6 percent), to around NIS 475 billion.
 
 
The business sector’s outstanding debt
·      In the fourth quarter of 2015, business sector debt increased by about NIS 2.4 billion to around NIS 809 billion. The increase derived mainly from a quantitative increase of about NIS 4.8 billion comprised mainly of increase loans from banks and institutional investors, and from a quantitative reduction in tradable and non-tradable bonds in Israel and in loans from abroad.  The quantitative increase was partly offset as a result of the effect of the decline in the Consumer Price Index by about 0.7 percent, and by the appreciation of the shekel vis-à-vis the dollar by about 0.5 percent, which lowered the value of CPI-indexed debt and of debt denominated in and indexed to foreign exchange.
·     In January 2016 the business sector (excluding banks and insurance companies) issued about NIS 0.8 billion in bonds and in February the sector issued about NIS 4.1 billion in bonds, mostly in tradable bonds.  The average of issuances for those months is similar to the average for 2015, (about NIS 2.5 billion).
 
Household debt
·     Households’ outstanding debt increased by about NIS 7.5 billion (1.6 percent) in the fourth quarter of 2015, to about NIS 475 billion. Of that, the balance of outstanding housing debt increased by about NIS 4.2 billion, to about NIS 322 billion.
·     In January 2016, there was a decline, partly seasonal, in new mortgages taken out, with new mortgages totaling about NIS 4.7 billion, lower than the average for 2015, which is about NIS 5.4 billion (see Figure 3).

The cost of the debt
·     In December, the interest rate spread in the unindexed track widened by about 0.04 percentage points, mainly as a result of the increase in interest on outstanding credit.
·     In January, the average spread between the yield on CPI-indexed corporate bonds—measured by the Tel Bond 60—and the yields on CPI-indexed government bonds remained unchanged on average at about 1.6 percentage points.
·     In January, the average interest rate on new unindexed mortgages (variable-rate interest) increased by about 0.07 percentage points. The average interest rate on new CPI-indexed mortgages (fixed interest) also increased, by about 0.21 percentage points.
 
 
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