OREANDA-NEWS. The economy of Eurozone will shrink by 7.8 % in 2020 and then grow by 4.2 % in 2021 and by 3 % in 2022. This follows from the European Commission’s economic forecast of autumn 2020. The ratio of government debt to gross domestic product (GDP) will increase from 85.9 % of GDP in 2019 to 101.7 % in 2020, 102.3 % in 2021 and 102.6 % in 2022. Thus, the national debt of the euro area for the first time in history will exceed 100 % of the total GDP of the community.

According to the report, the economy of the European Union will contract by 7.4 % in 2020, and then recover by 4.1 % in 2021 and by 3 % in 2022. Compared to the economic forecast of summer 2020, growth projections for both Eurozone and EU are slightly higher for 2020 and lower for 2021.

Eurozone GDP in the third quarter grew by 12.7 % compared to the previous quarter, the European Statistical Office presented such data on October 30. At the same time, the results were 4.3 % worse than in the third quarter of 2019. Compared to this period, all countries demonstrate a decrease in GDP; the largest numbers are in Spain (8.7 %), Portugal (5.8 %), the Czech Republic (5.8 %) and France (4.3 %).