Euro zone lending improves in June

FRANKFURT: Lending to euro zone households and firms picked up slightly in June, European Central Bank data showed on Monday.

Loans to the private sector in June grew by 0.6 percent on the year, compared with a rate of 0.5 percent in May. The June result was in line with expectations in a Reuters poll.

Sparse lending to companies had dogged the struggling euro zone economy although the picture has been improving since late 2014 and policy setters including ECB President Mario Draghi believe that the bloc is recovering.

The M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, which is often an early indicator of future economic activity, grew by 5.0 percent in June, in line with the previous month, the ECB said.