Brussels, 26/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The annual rate of growth of monetary mass M3 (an advanced indicator for inflation closely followed by the ECB to define its monetary policy) in the Euro zone clearly accelerated in June, to 6.1%, against a revised progression on 5.1% one month earlier, announced the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. This figure (not corrected for distortions links to the inclusion of monetary assets held by non-residents of the Euro zone, which contribute towards artificially increasing the aggregate) is higher than the analyst forecasts, which gambled on a rise of 5.7%. The annual average rate of growth for M3 covering the period April to June 2001 settled at 5.3% against a figure also slightly revised of 4.8% during the period March to May. The pace of the increase in the monetary mass remains noticeable above the reference value of 4.5% (maximum set by the issuing institute in Frankfurt). Moreover, growth in credits granted to the private sector slowed slightly, to 8.4% against 8.6% in May.