FRANKFURT, April 29 —  Growth in lending to non-financial firms in the eurozone leaped in March, European Central Bank data showed today, as companies scramble for the resources to weather the coronavirus crisis.

Lending to companies grew 5.4 per cent last month, the ECB said in figures adjusted for some purely financial transactions, closing in on double the 3.0 per cent rate of increase seen in February.

Meanwhile growth in lending to households slowed slightly, from 3.7 percent in February to 3.4 per cent in March, also in adjusted terms.

Loan growth across the private sector grew 5.0 percent in March, a jump from the 3.7 per cent a month before.

The lending data for March follows a quarterly survey of banks published by the ECB yesterday, which showed firms’ demand for credit "surged”.

"Firms’ emergency liquidity needs in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown of large parts of the economy” had prompted the rush to secure loans, the Frankfurt institution said.

At the same time, demand for mortgages and consumer credit has slumped.

The 144 banks polled in the survey said they expect demand for business loans to clamber still higher in the second quarter.

But household demand for mortgages is expected to fall to levels "similar to the realised level in the second half of 2008”, after the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank. — AFP