Growth in the ECB's M3 indicator was 7.8 per cent, down from 8.7 per cent in October, a bank spokesman said.

Analysts had expected growth to ease to 8.5 per cent.

The money supply indicator measures cash, overnight deposits, other short-term deposits, repurchase agreements, shares and units in money market funds and debt securities with a maturity of up to two years.

A falling figure points to lower demand in the economy, suggesting that inflation will ease and so allow the ECB to cut interest rates.

On a three-month basis, which smoothes out exceptional movements, M3 growth eased to 8.4 per cent in September to November from 8.7 per cent in the August-October period.

For the three month period, analysts had forecast growth of 8.6 per cent.

Growth in lending to the private sector compared with a year earlier also declined in November to 7.1 per cent from 7.8 per cent in October, the ECB said. -- AFP