Eurozone lending and money growth show signs of thawing
EUROZONE lending and money supply growth showed signs of recovery in September, new data has revealed.
The figures released yesterday by the European Central Bank show that loans to firms fell by 1.8 per cent in the year to September. The fall marks a lesser decline than the two per cent figure for August.
Loans to households rose by 0.6 per cent on the year in September, up from 0.5 per cent in August. Overall, loans to the private sector fell annually by 0.6 per cent, a lesser fall than previous months.
Meanwhile, the M3 money supply which counts the euros in firms’ and individuals’ bank accounts as well as notes and coins rose by 2.5 per cent on the year. “This is still hardly a robust set of data and the ECB certainly cannot start to relax yet on the bank lending and money supply front,” warned Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight.