FRANKFURT, Feb 27 Reuters Bank lending to euro zone companies eased for the third straight month in January, as rising interest, an economic downturn and increased caution from lenders appear to be taking their toll, European Central Bank data showed on Monday.

Lending to businesses in the 20 nation currency bloc expanded by 6.1 in January after a 6.3 rise a month earlier while household credit growth slowed to 3.6 from 3.8.

An earlier ECB survey showed banks already tightened access to credit in the fourth quarter by the most since the bloc39;s debt crisis a decade ago and predicted even more restrictive lending policies for the three months to March.

The monthly flow of loans to companies was a mere 2 billion euros but that is still an improvement on the negative 25 billion euro reading a month earlier.

Growth in the M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone meanwhile fell to 3.5 from 4.1, coming well below expectations for 3.9 in a Reuters survey.

Reporting by Balazs Koranyi Editing by Francesco Canepa

Source Reuters