Lending to the Eurozone private sector declined modestly in February, suggesting a gradual revival in euro area bank lending, data from the European Central Bank showed Thursday.

Loans to businesses and households fell 0.1 percent annually, following a 0.2 percent drop in January, which was revised from a 0.1 percent drop reported earlier.

After adjusting for sales and securitisation, lending to the private sector grew 0.6 percent after a 0.4 percent gain in the previous month.

The annual growth in M3, a broad measure of money supply, rose to 4 percent from 3.7 percent in January. Initially, the January M3 growth was reported as 4.1 percent, which was the fastest pace since April 2009.

The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 during the December to February period increased to 3.8 percent from 3.5 percent in the November to January period.

Among the M3 components, the annual growth rate of M1 increased to 9.1 percent in February from 8.9 percent in January.

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