Key points from the data to the end of February 2017 include:
Part one: Broad money and credit: aggregate, sectoral and industrial detail
- Broad money, M4 excluding intermediate other financial corporations, increased by £7.3 billion in February (Table A) with positive flows for all sectors (Tables B-D). Together, flows for households and private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) were similar to last month.
- Sterling lending to the UK private sector excluding intermediate other financial corporations, M4Lex, increased by £9.6 billion in February (Table A). There was positive net lending to all sectors, with lending to households and PNFCs broadly similar to last month (Tables B-D).
Part two: Lending to individuals: lending secured on dwellings and consumer credit
- Lending secured on dwellings rose by £3.5 billion in February, similar to the flows in recent months (Table H).
- Approvals of loans secured on dwellings fell slightly in February. This was the first decline since August 2016, but at 125,622 they remain above the recent six-month average (Table I).
- The net flow of consumer credit was £1.4 billion in February. The twelve-month growth rate remained at 10.5% (Table J).
Part three: Lending to businesses: net finance raised and loans to businesses, split by size of business
- PNFCs’ net external finance from UK monetary financial institutions and capital markets fell by £0.7 billion in February (Table L).
- Loans to non-financial businesses decreased by £1.8 billion in February, compared to the recent average increase of £0.9 billion (Table M). Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increased by £0.6 billion in February.
Money and Credit - February 2017