According to the report from the European Central Bank (ECB), in February, the M3 monetary aggregate rose by 0.4% per year after an increase of 0.1% in January. It was the third increase in a row. Economists had expected the M3 monetary aggregate to grow by 0.3% per annum.
Meanwhile, the narrower M1 aggregate, which includes money in circulation and overnight deposits, fell by 7.7% per annum, slowing compared to January (-8.6%). The annual growth rate of short-term deposits, except overnight deposits (M2-M1), decreased to 18.8% from 19.8% in January.
Looking at the components' contributions to the annual growth rate of M3, the M1 contributed -5.4% (compared to -6.1% in January), short-term deposits other than overnight deposits (M2-M1) contributed 4.8% (compared to 5.0% in January) and marketable instruments (M3-M2) contributed 0.9% (compared to 1.2% in January).
The data also showed that the private loans rose by 0.3% per year after a similar increase in January. It was the weakest pace of growth since March 2015, due to the dampened demand for credit caused by the ECB's monetary policy tightening. Economists had expected an increase of 0.4% per annum. Lending to companies grew by 0.4% per annum, accelerating compared to January (+0.2%).