Euro zone lending recovery continues at modest pace in March

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A lending recovery in the euro zone continued at a modest pace last month, data from the European Central Bank showed on Wednesday, in line with analyst expectations and with the ECB's own subdued outlook for the currency bloc.

Lending to companies grew by 1.1 percent year-on-year, just 10 basis points faster than in the previous month and extending a modest and uneven recovery that started in 2014.

Household lending growth was 1.6 percent, steady on the previous month.

The annual growth rate of the M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, which is often an indicator of future economic activity, rose to 5.0 percent from 4.9 percent, in line with expectations.

Growth in M3, which includes items such as deposits with a longer maturity, holdings in money market funds and some debt securities, peaked at 5.4 percent in April 2015 and has been more or less flat-lining since.

The ECB cut its interest rates and expanded its asset-purchase program last month in a bid to boost lending and, with it, inflation and economic growth in the euro zone.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

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