The European Commission estimates that the euro area debt-to-GDP ratio will exceed 100% by the end of this year. [29] And, according to the IMF, the average general government debt of advanced economies is set to exceed 125% of GDP. [30] Don’t (Tonne) get me wrong, in this exceptional situation, it is imperative that states lend ﬁnancial support to ﬁrms and households and stimulate the nascent recoveries of their economies.
It's noteworthy that other European countries which are also on the path to economic reform, such as Italy, are implementing institutional reforms in parallel with structural reform. Is the situation in the euro area fragile enough to justify new measures by the ECB? We are waiting to see the outlook for 2017 in the updated Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections.