Eurozone: Recovery in loan growth numbers in February – ING

Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, points out that for the Eurozone, after a sudden drop in bank lending growth to non-financial corporates in January, growth picked up from 3.4% to 3.7% year on year.

Key Quotes

“Growth in consumer borrowing picked up slightly from 3.2% to 3.3% YoY. The broad monetary aggregate M3 jumped from 3.8% to 4.3% and M1 - a better leading indicator for the economy, increased to 6.6%.”

“Fears of lower business confidence causing a squeeze in borrowing, therefore, seem to be somewhat overdrawn, but the credit impulse does continue to slow as growth in bank lending has plateaued. This means that lending isn't supportive of a pickup in growth in the months ahead.”