FRANKFURT, April 29 (Reuters) – Bank lending to euro zone firms accelerated in March, even as the Iran war depressed economic sentiment, European Central Bank data showed on Wednesday, a hopeful sign that the real economy can maintain some resilience even during turbulent times.
Survey indicators have been pointing at a rapid deterioration in the economic outlook since the outbreak of the war but hard data comes at a great lag, leaving policymakers with a blind spot.
Credit growth to businesses accelerated to 3.2% last month from 3.0% a month earlier while the monthly flow of loans rose to 27 billion euros from 19 billion euros a month earlier.
Surveys suggest that corporations are holding back investment amid the uncertainty, which should reduce their cash needs and may depress lending figures in the coming months.
Indeed, banks have already said they expect lending volumes to decline sharply and predicted tighter credit standards, given increased funding costs and uncertainty.
Lending growth to households meanwhile held steady at 3.0% and the monthly flow of loans was unchanged at 19 billion euros.
Lending is also seen taking a hit as inflation is accelerating on higher energy costs, quickly hitting corporate margins and households’ disposable incomes.
Price growth in Spain picked up to 3.5% in April from 3.4% a month earlier, separate data showed, while for the whole of the euro zone, a pickup to 2.9% from 2.6% is expected.
The M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, often an indicator of future activity, accelerated to 3.2% from 3.0%, above expectations for 3.1% growth in a Reuters poll of analysts.
(Reporting by Balazs KoranyiEditing by Ros Russell and Toby Chopra)
