In boost to ECB, eurozone lending climbs in November

Lending to households and companies picked up in November in the eurozone, the European Central Bank said Thursday, signalling that its efforts to encourage spending and investment are gaining traction.

Loans to households in the single currency area grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year, compared to 1.8 percent a month earlier, the bank said.

Lending to firms accelerated by 2.2 percent, up from 2.1 percent in October.

IHS Markit economist Howard Archer described the figures as "a pleasing set of news for the ECB".

"The ECB will particularly welcome a pick-up in the growth rate in eurozone bank lending to businesses to a more than five-year high in November," he said.

The ECB has embarked on an unprecedented stimulus programme to drive up lending and inflation in the euro area, and the monthly loan growth statistics are seen as a key indicator of the effectiveness of its measures.

Faced with a still lacklustre recovery and a string of financial and political risks on the horizon in 2017, ECB chief Mario Draghi announced earlier this month that the bank would extend a massive bond-buying scheme aimed at pumping cash into the economy.

As part of its ultra-loose monetary policy, the ECB has also cut interest rates to record lows and offered cheap loans to banks -- on the condition that they lend the funds on to households and businesses.

Buoyed by Thursday's data, Archer said the ECB would be "unlikely to make any adjustments to monetary policy for some considerable time to come following its early-December move to extend its asset purchasing scheme".

Inflation in the 19-nation euro area hit a two-and-a-half-year high in November at 0.6 percent, in another sign that the central bank's efforts are starting to pay off.

But the figure remains far short of the ECB's target of an inflation rate just below 2.0 percent.

Eurozone growth was low but stable in the third quarter, at 0.3 percent.

The ECB expects the euro area economy to grow by 1.7 percent this year.

The bank also announced Thursday that the eurozone's overall money supply, known as M3, increased by 4.8 percent in November, compared to October's 4.4 percent.

The ECB regards M3 money supply as a barometer for future inflation.