According to the report from the European Central Bank (ECB), in January, the M3 monetary aggregate rose by 0.1% per annum after a similar increase in December. It was the second increase in a row after a five-month drop. 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 8.6% per annum, accelerating compared to December (-8.5%). The annual growth rate of short-term deposits, except overnight deposits (M2-M1), decreased to 19.8% from 20.9% in December.
Looking at the components' contributions to the annual growth rate of M3, the M1 contributed -6.1% (compared to -6.0% in December), short-term deposits other than overnight deposits (M2-M1) contributed 5.0% (compared to 5.2% in December) and marketable instruments (M3-M2) contributed 1.2% (compared to 1.0% in December).
The data also showed that the private loans rose by 0.3% per year after a 0.4% per year increase in December (revised from +0.3%). 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 0.2% per annum, slowing compared to December (+0.5%, revised from +0.4%). Overall, the data indicated that the eurozone was not yet experiencing its long-awaited economic recovery.