Eurozone Household Lending Growth Fastest Since 2023

(RTTNews) - Lending to euro area households increased at the fastest pace since early 2023 but lending to businesses softened in September amid rising risks to economic growth.

Adjusted loans to households grew 2.6 percent year-on-year in September, following a 2.5 percent rise in August, data from the European Central Bank showed on Monday. This was the fastest growth since March 2023.

Meanwhile, the annual growth in loans to non-financial corporations eased slightly to 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent in August. Adjusted loans to the overall private sector expanded 2.8 percent, unchanged from the previous month. At the same time, claims on the private sector grew at a steady pace of 2.7 percent in September.

The broad monetary aggregate climbed 2.8 percent after rising 2.9 percent in August. In the three months to September, M3 growth averaged 3.0 percent.

Today's data does not give much direction for the ECB at Thursday's governing council meeting, ING economist Bert Colijn said. So yet another reason for the ECB to keep its powder dry.

"The coming months should give more direction on where the economy and monetary conditions are headed, which means that the December meeting should be more exciting," Colijn added.