The 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  resources of the public sector were mobilised, putting strains on the public finances of those countries whose banking sectors were large relative to their economies. As a result of this assistance to the financial sector, government debt in the euro area as a whole increased by more than five percentage points of GDP.
At the level of individual countries, government debt increased in some cases by more than 10 or even 30 percentage points of GDP, not including further – very sizeable – contingent liabilities resulting from state guarantees to banks. The second phase intensified the negative feedback loop between banks and sovereigns.