FRANKFURT (AFP) — Eurozone money supply growth, a leading indicator of inflation, accelerated by more than expected in April, figures from the European Central Bank showed on Thursday.
Growth of the ECB's broad M3 measure accelerated to 10.6 percent from a revised growth rate of 10.1 percent in March, a spokesman for the bank said in a telephone conference.
Economists polled by Thomson Financial News had expected the rate to be at the same level as in March.
The ECB's three-month moving average for M3 growth, which is less subject to volatility, eased back to 10.7 percent in the February to April period from 11.0 percent in January to March.
"With the underlying pace of monetary growth still strong, the latest data will do nothing to ease the ECB's inflation concerns," Capital Economics economists Jenifer McKeown and Ben May said.
The ECB has not followed the US and British central banks in lowering borrowing costs, saying its sole aim is to keep a lid on inflation, which across the euro area has remained stubbornly above target.
Data on Wednesday showed consumer prices rose strongly in April in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, soaring 3.0 percent year-on-year, well above the ECB's target of close to but just below 2.0 percent.
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