AFP, Frankfurt :
Growth in lending to businesses in the euro single currency area picked up pace in September, European Central Bank data showed Wednesday.
Total loan growth for the private sector overall – including households and financial firms – was flat at 3.4 percent year-on-year last month, adjusting for some purely financial transactions, the same pace as in August and July.
But while growth in lending to households was steady at 3.1 percent, credit for non-financial businesses added 0.2 percentage points, at 4.3 percent.
Faster growth in lending to business comes as ECB President Mario Draghi prepares to update markets Thursday on his plans for exiting its massive “quantitative easing” stimulus programme by year’s end.
The scheme has seen the central bank buy more than 2.5 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion) in government and corporate bonds since 2015, aiming to pump cash through the financial system to stoke lending, economic growth and inflation.
Policymakers wound back their purchases from 30 billion euros per month to just 15 billion euros from October, and plan to end QE altogether in December.
The ECB will likely stress that it continues to support the economy by reinvesting its stock of bonds and keeping interest rates at historic lows, as turbulence at home and abroad clouds the outlook for the 19-nation eurozone.
Growth in lending to businesses in the euro single currency area picked up pace in September, European Central Bank data showed Wednesday.
Total loan growth for the private sector overall – including households and financial firms – was flat at 3.4 percent year-on-year last month, adjusting for some purely financial transactions, the same pace as in August and July.
But while growth in lending to households was steady at 3.1 percent, credit for non-financial businesses added 0.2 percentage points, at 4.3 percent.
Faster growth in lending to business comes as ECB President Mario Draghi prepares to update markets Thursday on his plans for exiting its massive “quantitative easing” stimulus programme by year’s end.
The scheme has seen the central bank buy more than 2.5 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion) in government and corporate bonds since 2015, aiming to pump cash through the financial system to stoke lending, economic growth and inflation.
Policymakers wound back their purchases from 30 billion euros per month to just 15 billion euros from October, and plan to end QE altogether in December.
The ECB will likely stress that it continues to support the economy by reinvesting its stock of bonds and keeping interest rates at historic lows, as turbulence at home and abroad clouds the outlook for the 19-nation eurozone.
