[11]  Chart 5 Euro area loans to firms (indices, with T=100 for period of peak in economic activity)  Sources: ECB and ECB calculations. Notes: Non-financial corporation (NFC) loan data deflated by the HICP. Derivation of interquartile range and median for recessions and severe downturns based on quarterly data from Q1 1980 to Q2 2020 for France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Recessions defined by business cycle chronologies. Severe downturns defined as periods of one or more quarters of real GDP declining by 1 percent or more quarter-on-quarter (whether part of a recession or not). The latest observations are for Q2 2020.