Eurozone: Credit growth deteriorates - ING

February saw Eurozone’s confidence weaken substantially amid market turmoil and trade concerns, which is likely to have had an impact on bank lending, according to Bert Colijn, Senior Economist at ING.

Key Quotes

“Future expectations of new orders weakened particularly, which may have dented the immediate appetite for business investment. Loans to households saw adjusted growth maintain a stable pace at 2.9% YoY, but loan growth for house purchases dropped further from 3.1% to 2.9%.”

“The broad monetary aggregate, M3, grew at 4.2% which was down from a revised 4.5% in January. The narrower aggregate of M1, which includes currency in circulation and deposits, is often considered to be a better predictor of economic growth and as it decreased from 8.8% to 8.4% in February, it was the main weakening contributor.”