Given that it is the banks that create credit and thus the wider money supply they are, to a great extent, the same thing.

FORBES: Cyprus Bailout: Welcome To Another Great Depression

And owners of small businesses are finding it necessary to turn to what is essentially a black market in finance as loans available from banks decline and the growth of the money supply slows.

WSJ: China Might Have Over-Reached Itself

If the Fed buys back issued securities (such as Treasury bills) from large banks and securities dealers, it increases the money supply in the hands of the public.

FORBES: How Has The Fed Evolved?

After the credit crisis set in and the healing aspects of deflation began to take hold, central banks rapidly expanded the supply of base money in an effort to quickly erode the purchasing power of their currencies and bring real estate prices higher.

FORBES: Deflation Isn't The Enemy

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

Even cash-rich banks will hoard their money if they fear that the interbank market will seize up and cut them off from sources of future supply.

ECONOMIST: A liquidity squeeze