Eurozone loan growth to businesses dropped in January – ING

Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, notes that the Eurozone’s loan growth to non-financial corporates dropped from 3.9% to just 3.3% year-on-year on an adjusted basis.

Key Quotes

“Lending growth has slowed as uncertainty about the eurozone economy continues to impact businesses. Growth in lending to businesses peaked in June 2018 and seems to be on a downward trend.”

“The European Central Bank's bank lending survey had already indicated weaker loan growth ahead on the back of growth concerns. This means that the positive impact of loan growth on GDP is slowing and that investment is likely not bouncing back in the current quarter.”

“Growth in the broad monetary aggregate M3 and more narrow aggregate M1 both came down in January and while the slowing trend is impacted by the end of quantitative easing, it is considered to be a leading indicator.”