FRANKFURT, Jan 29 - Loans to the euro zone private sector inched down in December as did the annual rate of M3 money supply growth, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday. The annual growth rate of loans to the private sector fell to 5.4 percent in December, from 5.6 percent a month earlier. Annual euro zone M3 money supply growth fell to 7.1 percent from 7.4 percent a month earlier, with the three-months moving average down to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent in the previous three-months period.
The growth rate was below the outcome of a survey showing economists on average expected 12-month M3 growth to have slowed to 7.2 percent in December, with forecasts ranging from 7.0 percent to 7.9 percent.//www.reuters.com