Data published by the European Central Bank showed that in December, broad monetary aggregate M3 increased by 6.9% per annum after an increase by 7.4% in November (revised from +7.3%). However, growth in December was higher than economists' forecasts (+6.8%). Meanwhile, the growth of the M1 aggregate slowed to 9.8% per annum from 10.0% per annum in November.
The ECB also reported that the growth rate of deposits placed by households slowed to 5.5% per annum compared to 6.0% per annum in November, while the growth of deposits placed by non-financial corporations was 8.5% per annum compared to 7.9% in November. Meanwhile, the growth of deposits of non-monetary financial corporations (excluding insurance organizations and pension funds) amounted to 13.3% per annum compared to 15.5% per annum in November.
The data also showed that in December, lending to the private sector increased by 4.1% per annum after an increase by 4.2% per annum in November. Economists had expected an increase by 4.2%. In addition, lending to eurozone businesses grew by 4.2% per annum, which was significantly more than the increase by 2.9% per annum in November.