Euro zone money supply growth soared to a fresh 16-year high in December.
Analysts had expected growth in M3 money supply - a mix of cash, short-term bank deposits and money market instruments - to ease in December after a surprise jump the previous month.
Instead, annual growth accelerated to 9.7 per cent, from 9.3 per cent, the fastest expansion since February 1990, helped by a strong expansion in short-term deposits and investments.
The rise fuelled European Central Bank concerns about inflation pressures and bolstering expectations for interest rates to rise further.
But in a comforting sign for the ECB, growth in private sector borrowing eased, with higher interest rates denting households' and businesses' appetite for new loans, according to figures released today.
The ECB has raised benchmark rates by 150 basis points to 3.5 per cent over the past 14 months in a bid to bring down inflation and markets expect another 25 basis point rise in March.
But analysts said the stronger-than-expected money supply growth shored up the likelihood of a further rise to 4 per cent in June, and perhaps even of further action.
