• In the first quarter of 2019, the balance of assets held abroad by Israeli residents increased by about $17.8 billion (4.1 percent) to about $455 billion at the end of March. The increase was mostly due to increases in the prices of foreign equities held by Israelis in the tradable securities portfolio.
  • Outstanding liabilities to abroad increased by approximately $16.1 billion (5.3 percent) in the first quarter, to about $320 billion at the end of March. Most of the increase was due to increases in the prices of Israeli equities (direct and in the tradable portfolio) and the flow of direct investments in Israel by nonresidents.
  • Israel’s surplus of assets over liabilities vis-à-vis abroad increased by approximately $1.7 billion (1.3 percent) in the first quarter, to about $135 billion at the end of March, as a result of an increase in outstanding assets that was larger than the increase in outstanding liabilities.
  • The surplus of assets over liabilities vis-à-vis abroad in debt instruments alone (negative net external debt) increased by $0.8 billion during the first quarter, to about approximately $156 billion at the end of March.
  • The ratio of gross external debt to GDP increased by about 1.2 percentage points during the course of the first quarter, to 26.6 percent at the end of March. The increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio reflected an increase in the balance of gross external debt that was greater than the increase in GDP in dollar terms.

        Full press release
        Graphs and data​