Euro zone lending surges to decade-high amid pandemic lockdown
Reuters
Published Apr 29, 2020 09:21
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lending to euro zone companies surged in March as firms rushed for emergency funding amid the continent's coronavirus-related lockdown, data from the European Central Bank showed on Wednesday.
With millions of people forced to stay home, the bloc came to a standstill last month and the economy could shrink by a tenth this year, forcing firms to find emergency cash to survive.
Indeed, lending growth to non-financial corporations rose to 5.4% in March from 3% a month earlier, its best rate since 2009, even as household lending slowed to 3.4% from 3.7%.
On Tuesday, the ECB's own lending survey had shown that banks are expecting more demand for cash this quarter and with government guarantees in place, they may be more willing to lend to firms, even if household lending could still suffer.
The annual growth rate of the M3 measure of money supply accelerated to 7.5% from 5.5%, beating expectations for 5.5% in a Reuters poll.
Get The App
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.