FRANKFURT: Loans to firms and households in the euro zone eased by more than expected in September as the zone debt crisis hit consumers.
Loans to the private sector fell 0.8 percent from the same month a year ago, data released by the European Central Bank showed on Thursday, coming in below the expectations of economists polled by Reuters for a drop of 0.6 percent.
From the previous month, lending to firms fell by 20 billion euros, the data also showed.
Euro zone M3 money supply - a more general measure of cash in the economy - grew at an annual pace of 2.7 percent in September, slowing from 2.8 percent in August. The consensus in a Reuters poll of analysts was for a reading of 3.0 percent.
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