Euro zone bank lending continued to pick up before tariffs, ECB data shows

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Lending growth to euro zone businesses continued to accelerate in March, indicating that a series of interest rate cuts was bolstering activity before the United States launched a global trade war, European Central Bank data showed on Tuesday.

Lending to euro area firms expanded by 2.3% in March after a 2.0% reading a month earlier, its highest level since the middle of 2023. Household lending meanwhile expanded by 1.7% after 1.5% in February, a close to two-year high.

However, growth in the M3 measure of money circulating in the bloc, often an indicator of future economic activity, slowed to 3.6% in March from 3.9% a month earlier, trailing expectations for 4.0%.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)