Economic Release
GB: M4 Money Supply
Date: March 31, 2025 03:30 AM CT
| Actual | Previous | Revised | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month over Month | 0.2% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| Year over Year | 3.8% | 4.1% |
Highlights
The 0.2 percent monthly rise in M4 liquidity in February contrasts with January's revised rapid rise of 1.4 Percent. The annual growth surge to 3.8 percent from 4.1 percent suggests a significant monetary expansion at a decelerated pace, which could inject momentum into lending and investment activity. A closer look at the data reveals a more measured expansion when excluding intermediate other financial corporations, with no change in monthly M4 growth and annual growth at 3.9 percent. This implies that households and businesses support economic activity cautiously, reinforcing consumption and investment without excessive overheating.
The growth in M4 lending, which rose 0.2 percent in February after a previous 0.7 percent significant growth in January, underscores a continued appetite for borrowing. The year-over-year growth rate of 2.5 percentthe strongest in since March 2023suggests renewed recovery in credit demand. However, stripping out intermediate and other financial corporations, the moderate 0.2 percent monthly rise in lending highlights measured risk-taking, ensuring stability.
In essence, the liquid upturn presents opportunities and risks, fuelling economic activity while potentially igniting inflationary pressures. The latest update leaves the UK RPI at 20 and the RPI-P at 32. This means that economic activities are generally ahead of market expectations in the UK economy.
The growth in M4 lending, which rose 0.2 percent in February after a previous 0.7 percent significant growth in January, underscores a continued appetite for borrowing. The year-over-year growth rate of 2.5 percentthe strongest in since March 2023suggests renewed recovery in credit demand. However, stripping out intermediate and other financial corporations, the moderate 0.2 percent monthly rise in lending highlights measured risk-taking, ensuring stability.
In essence, the liquid upturn presents opportunities and risks, fuelling economic activity while potentially igniting inflationary pressures. The latest update leaves the UK RPI at 20 and the RPI-P at 32. This means that economic activities are generally ahead of market expectations in the UK economy.
Definition
M4 is the Bank of England's main broad measure of money supply. There is no target for M4 and in practice the central bank tends to follow an adjusted measure that excludes intermediate other financial corporations in order to get a handle on current underlying trends. The M4 private sector lending counterpart is the most closely watched aspect of the report.
Description
M4 is similar to the M3 measure used in some other countries. M4 includes everything in M2 (also called the retail component of M4) plus other deposits with an original maturity of up to five years; other claims on financial institutions such as repos and bank acceptances; debt instruments issued by financial institutions including commercial paper and bonds with a maturity of up to five years. Understanding the role of money in the economy has always been an important issue for policymakers. And the pickup in broad money growth and decline in credit spreads over the past three years together with more recent financial market turbulence has made it a particularly pertinent issue. Monetary data can potentially provide important corroborative or incremental information about the outlook for inflation. Quantitative easing is essentially a policy aimed at boosting money supply.
