FRANKFURT, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Bank lending to euro zone
companies eased for the third straight month in January, as
rising interest, an economic downturn and increased caution from
lenders appear to be taking their toll, European Central Bank
data showed on Monday.
Lending to businesses in the 20 nation currency bloc
expanded by 6.1% in January after a 6.3% rise a month earlier
while household credit growth slowed to 3.6% from 3.8%.
An earlier ECB survey showed banks already tightened access
to credit in the fourth quarter by the most since the bloc's
debt crisis a decade ago and predicted even more restrictive
lending policies for the three months to March.
The monthly flow of loans to companies was a mere 2 billion
euros but that is still an improvement on the negative 25
billion euro reading a month earlier.
Growth in the M3 measure of money circulating in the euro
zone meanwhile fell to 3.5% from 4.1%, coming well below
expectations for 3.9% in a Reuters survey.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi
Editing by Francesco Canepa)
Reuters Messaging:
balazs.koranyi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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