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Monetary aggregates

This section sets out the euro area monetary aggregates and counterparts. These are derived from the consolidated monetary financial institution (MFI) balance sheet and take account of some central government monetary assets/liabilities.

This section also includes information on additional elements of relevance when using the monetary statistics published by the ECB; these include the derivation of flows, the index of notional stocks and the contributions to the annual growth rate of M3.

Monetary developments in the euro area

Statistical press release

Monetary aggregates and counterparts

Other monetary statistics

Historical time series for research purposes (start date: 1970)

This dataset was a one-off publication; it is not updated regularly. For background information and method, see historical series

Monetary aggregates background

Monetary aggregates comprise monetary liabilities of MFIs and central government (post office, treasury, etc.) vis-à-vis non-MFI euro area residents excluding central government.

  • M1 is the sum of currency in circulation and overnight deposits;
  • M2 is the sum of M1, deposits with an agreed maturity of up to two years and deposits redeemable at notice of up to three months; and
  • M3 is the sum of M2, repurchase agreements, money market fund shares/units and debt securities with a maturity of up to two years.

The ECB calculates the growth rates of monetary aggregates, and their components and counterparts, on the basis of transactions rather than simply comparing end-of-period outstanding amounts. Growth rates are calculated from an index which is obtained (starting from a base period) by dividing transactions by the outstanding amounts at the beginning of the period to which they refer.

Stock data refer to the value of assets and liabilities on the last day of the reference period (month or quarter), which is as a rule the last calendar day.

The transactions for the current period are calculated by deducting the effect of factors that do not relate to transactions from the difference in stocks over the period. These factors are:

  • reclassifications and other adjustments,covering changes in the balance sheet stocks that arise as a result of changes in the composition and structure of the MFI population, changes in the classification of financial instruments and counterparties, changes in statistical definitions and the (partial) correction of reporting errors;
  • revaluation adjustments, resulting from changes in the prices of assets and liabilities, changes in exchange rates affecting assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies, and write-offs or write-downs of loans.

These factors give rise to breaks in the series and hence affect the comparability of two successive end-of-period stocks.

Manual on MFI balance sheet statistics

Unless otherwise stated, the reference area for euro area monetary statistics covers all of the euro area countries at the time to which the statistics relate.

Seasonal adjustment of monetary statistics

Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing seasonal effects from a time series. The seasonal adjustment procedures used by the ECB also cater for calendar adjustment, where relevant.

The approach used to seasonally adjust the euro area monetary aggregates and counterparts relies on a multiplicative decomposition using the X-12-ARIMA method. Outliers are taken into consideration to minimise distortions to the estimated seasonal and calendar adjustments.

To ensure that the seasonally adjusted components are additive to the seasonally adjusted aggregates, some of the seasonally adjusted series, in particular M3, are derived indirectly. The difference between direct and indirect estimates of euro area monetary aggregates is regularly monitored and, generally has proven to be negligible.

Forecast seasonal factors are also used and revised when required, for example, in the case of large data revisions or where the models used are statistically inadequate when new data are incorporated. For this purpose, a concurrent adjustment is run on a monthly basis in order to assess the validity of the seasonal factors in use.

List of seasonal adjusted monetary statistics

Besides the release of seasonal adjusted data for the euro area, the ECB makes available via the SDW seasonally adjusted data on loans to euro area households and non-financial corporations for a number of countries, where these are provided by the respective national central banks. These national seasonally adjusted data comprise outstanding amounts and transactions from 2003 onwards and are adjusted for loan sales and securitisation (for data up to 2010, adjustment for sales and securitisation is done on a best efforts basis using available information). National seasonally adjusted data, including growth rates, are available on the SDW at the below link.

National seasonally adjusted data on loans

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