At the end of the third quarter of 2020, still impacted by policy responses to the COVID-19 containment measures, which materialised in increased financing needs, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 97.3 percent, compared with 95.0 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2020, according to Eurostat. In the EU, the ratio increased from 87.7 percent to 89.8 percent. Compared with the third quarter of 2019, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 85.8 percent to 97.3 percent) and the EU (from 79.2 percent to 89.8 percent): the increases are due to two factors -government debt increasing considerably, and GDP decreasing. At the end of the thirdquarter of 2020, debt securities accounted for 82.3 percent of euro area and for 82.1 percent of EU general government debt. Loans made up 14.5 percent and 14.8 percent respectively and currency and deposits represented 3.3 percent of euro area and 3.1 percent of EU government debt, informed Eurostat.
