FRANKFURT, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Lending growth to euro zone firms stalled last month but household lending kept inching up, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday, backing the views of economists that the currency bloc’s expansion is modest, even if quite steady.
Credit growth to businesses slowed to 3.0% in December, from 3.1% a month earlier, while loan growth to households accelerated to 3.0% from 2.9% to hit its highest level since early 2023.
The M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, often an indicator of future activity, slowed to 2.8% from 3.0%, coming below expectations for 3.0% growth in a Reuters poll of analysts.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Alex Richardson)
