Growth in bank loans to euro zone companies set a fresh post-crisis high in April, even as a key money supply indicator, which often predicts future economic activity, dipped more than expected.
This is according to new data from the European Central Bank today.
Corporate lending in the euro zone grew by 2.4% in April, just above the previous month's 2.3% but the highest rate since the middle of 2009.
While this pace of growth was less than half of the pre-crisis level, it still suggested that the ECB's cheap cash was making its way to the real economy, even if slower than the bank had originally hoped.
Lending to households meanwhile grew by 2.4% in April, the same level as a month earlier, when it hit its highest level since early 2009.
The annual growth rate of the M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, which has in the past often predicted economic activity, slowed to 4.9% last month from 5.3% in March.
This was lower than expectations for 5.2% in a Reuters poll.
