Eurozone credit and money growth give a boost to growth prospects
The amount of lending and the money supply climbed in the Eurozone last month.
The annual growth rate of loans to households climbed to 1.7 per cent in June from 1.4 per cent in May, according to data released by the European Central Bank yesterday.
Lending to companies rose at a slower rate of 0.1 per cent. Lending growth is helping to fuel growth in the Eurozone’s M3 money supply – which counts the euros in the bank accounts of Eurozone households and firms. M3 rose five per cent annually to €10.6 trillion (£7.6 trillion) in June.
M3 is also being boosted by the Eurozone’s quantitative easing programme, where new money is created to fund €60bn of asset purchases a month. It continues a recovery in credit and money growth – April’s M3 growth of 5.3 per cent was the highest since 2009.
“With the main lending aggregates continuing to improve and the recent bank lending survey showing further improvement, financial conditions should support Eurozone investment,” said economist Colin Bermingham from BNP Paribas.