•  In the first quarter of 2022, the balance of assets held abroad by Israeli residents declined by approximately $17 billion (about 2 percent), to about $694 billion at the end of March. The decline was mainly due to a decline in prices of foreign securities held by Israelis.
  • Outstanding liabilities to abroad declined by approximately $19 billion (about 3.5 percent) in the first quarter, to about $522 billion at the end of the quarter. The decline was primarily due to a decline in prices of Israeli securities held by nonresidents.
  • Israel’s surplus of assets over liabilities vis-à-vis abroad increased in the first quarter by approximately $2 billion (1 percent), to about $173 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) declined during the first quarter by about $14 billion (6 percent), to approximately $211 billion at the end of March.
  • ​The ratio of gross external debt to GDP declined by 0.8 percentage points during the course of the first quarter, to 32.6 percent at the end of March. The decline in the debt to GDP ratio in the first quarter reflected an increase of about 1.2 percent in the balance of external debt and an increase of about 3.8 percent in GDP (in dollar terms).​

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