LONDON (Standard&Poor's) April 30, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating on Israel-based Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M. (Leumi) to 'BBB+' from 'A-'. At the same time, the 'A-2' short-term counterparty credit rating on Leumi was affirmed. The outlook on Leumi is negative. "The rating actions reflect our view of the negative impact of the global and domestic economic and market downturn on Leumi's earnings and asset quality," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Magar Kouyoumdjian. Standard&Poor's anticipates that the global recession could severely affect Israel's economy in 2009. "We believe that growth prospects will deteriorate markedly compared with previous years, with real GDP contracting by 1.5% in 2009,
