FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bank lending to euro zone households and companies kept rising at a brisk pace in February even as the supply of fresh money slowed along with the European Central Bank’s bond purchases, ECB data showed on Friday.
Growth in lending to household inched to a new post-crisis high of 4.3% year over year while credit to companies increased by 4.4%, in line with the previous month.
The M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone grew by 6.4%, the slowest pace in two years – that is before the ECB boosted its bond purchases to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February was widely seen as having worsened the economic outlook for the euro zone, which relies on Russia for much of its imports of gas and some other commodities.
(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)
