Last year, America's broad money supply grew at its fastest in real terms for a quarter-century.

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There has been a continuous drop in private sector lending (-0.8%) and no change to the broad money supply.

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Rapid growth in America's broad money supply bears this out.

ECONOMIST: American interest rates need to rise

Broad-money supply was flat in the euro zone in the 12 months to the end of March.

ECONOMIST: Financial markets

In Britain, for example, despite continued quantitative easing, the broad measure of money supply fell by 4.1% in the year to August.

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In the year to December, the broad measure of money supply fell by 0.2% in the euro zone and grew by just 3.4% in America.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

Although the European Central Bank, unlike all other big central banks, has not cut interest rates this year, broad-money-supply growth has quickened, to 5.0% in the year to March.

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The broad M2 measure of money supply grew by 19.7%, exceeding the official target of 17%.

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Our earlier use of this policy approach had little effect on the amount of currency in circulation or on other broad measures of the money supply, such as bank deposits.

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And broad measures of the money supply are still barely growing because banks have been reluctant to lend, or because firms have been too concerned to pay off debt, or both.

ECONOMIST: Taking the porridge test

However, expansion of the monetary base does not necessarily lead to growth in broad money, which measures the supply of credit to businesses and consumers and which ultimately drives inflation.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood: Pausing for breath | The