Israel grapples with escalating uncertainty as the Gaza conflict persists, stirring military, political, and economic turmoil alongside rising fears of financial instability.

Fitch -- which is the last of the big three US ratings agencies -- placed Israel on negative watch over risks from the conflict. "The weakened security environment implies higher social risk and indicates weaker executive and legislative institutions than Moody's previously assessed," the ratings agency said Friday in the...

Fitch and Capital Intelligence agencies also continued to rate Qatar's sovereign rating at the level of AA with a stable outlook, which reflects Qatar's strong creditworthiness.

The agency expects that Qatar would achieve large budget surpluses and sustainably reduce debt servicing costs due to the government's successful strategy to pay off debts.

The government spending, partly supported by significant revenues from government assets, have enabled Ras Al Khaimah to diversify its economy, says the latest Fitch report.

The GCC countries are among the most notable ones that credit rating agencies frequently recognize since they are the center of investors' attention.

S&P Global Ratings has introduced a new national credit rating scale for Saudi Arabia in response to a growing interest in the kingdom’s local currency debt markets.

The agency predicted the Saudi economy will return to positive growth in 2021, and the current account level will return to surplus as the fiscal deficit shrinks in 2021, accompanied by a reduction in the level of debt in the medium term.

The emirate is expected to see a growth of around 2.5 percent between 2021 and 2024.

Moody’s expects Oman’s current account deficit to decline below 4 percent of the GDP in 2021-23 from more than 13 percent in 2020.