To put this in perspective, let me say that if the debt/GDP ratio were to fall to about 50 percent, a reasonable ratio by international standards, interest payments would fall to less than 3 percent of GDP and less than 8 percent of the budget, because the interest rates would fall, and about NIS 17 billion a year would be available for other economic uses.
The second reason for concern about the debt/GDP ratio is the economy's sensitivity to external shocks. With debt/GDP ratios as high as Israel's, the government budget and the economy are very sensitive to shocks such as changes in interest rates abroad, particularly for the medium and long terms.