FRANKFURT, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The broad money supply (M3) in the euro area grew by 4.9 percent in November 2017, compared with the same period of last year, according to the data released by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday.

The annual M3 growth rate in November was only 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month, showing that the euro area money supply continues to expand at a steady pace.

Regarding the specific contributions of M3 counterparts, the ECB pointed out that longer-term financial liabilities contributed 0.7 percentage point, net external assets contributed -0.7 percentage point, credit to general government contributed 2.6 percentage points, and credit to the private sector contributed 3.2 percentage points.

M3 continuing to expand reflected the impact of the ECB's monetary policy measures and the low opportunity cost of holding the most liquid deposits, said the ECB President Mario Draghi at the press conference following the Governing Council Meeting in December.

At the last Governing Council Meeting in 2017, ECB decided to keep key interest rates at record low and forecasted stronger economic growth in euro area.