By Emese Bartha

FRANKFURT--Bank lending to businesses in the eurozone grew at an unchanged annual pace in January as in December, the European Central Bank said Thursday.

The annual growth rate of adjusted loans to nonfinancial corporates stood at 3.2% in January, unchanged from the previous month, the ECB said. The annual growth rate of adjusted loans to households increased to 3.7% in January from 3.6% in December, the ECB said.

Economists consider bank-lending data as a key indicator of economic health as the eurozone's economy is dependent on funding.

Money supply, one of the ECB's key indicators, accelerated in January with the annual growth rate of M3 rising to 5.2% from a revised 4.9% in December, the ECB said. The first reading for M3 growth in December was 5.0%. The outcome is slightly below economists' forecast of 5.3% in The Wall Street Journal's survey.

Write to Emese Bartha at emese.bartha@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2020 04:27 ET (09:27 GMT)