At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, still impacted by policy responses to the COVID-19 containment measures, which materialized in increased financing needs, the government debt to GDP ratio in the EU, increased from 89.7% to 90.7%.
In the euro area the ratio stood at 98.0%, compared with 97.2% at the end of the third quarter of 2020.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 83.9% to 98.0%) and the EU (from 77.5% to 90.7%): the increases are due to two factors - government debt increasing, and GDP decreasing.
“At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, debt securities accounted for 82.1% of euro area and for 81.8% of EU general government debt. Loans made up 14.6% and 15.1% respectively and currency and deposits represented 3.3% of euro area and 3.2% of EU government debt. Due to the involvement of EU Member States' governments in financial assistance to certain Member States, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL) are also published.
The share of IGL as percentage of GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 amounted to 2.0% in the euro area and to 1.7% in the EU, reads the recent data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The share of IGL as percentage of GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 amounted to 2.0% in the euro area and to 1.7% in the EU, reads the recent data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 were recorded in Greece (205.6%), Italy (155.8%), Portugal (133.6%), Spain (120.0%), Cyprus (118.2%), France (115.7%), and Belgium (114.1%), and the lowest in Estonia (18.2%), Luxembourg (24.9%) and Bulgaria (25.0%).
Compared with the third quarter of 2020, seventeen Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 and ten a decrease. The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Hungary (+6.5 percentage points – pp), Spain (+6.0 pp), Greece (+5.9 pp), Austria (+5.0 pp), Romania (+4.2 pp) and Portugal (+3.1 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Ireland (-2.8 pp), Latvia and Luxembourg (both -1.2 pp), and Cyprus (-1.0 pp).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, all Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. The largest increases in the ratio were recorded in Greece (+25.1 pp), Spain (+24.5 pp), Cyprus (+24.2 pp), Italy (+21.2 pp) and France (+18.1 pp).
