4  BIS Review 70/2006  BIS Review 70/2006  5  6  BIS Review 70/2006  BIS Review 70/2006  7
The very different lending flows between firms and households in March reflect the nature of the policy approaches to supporting these two sectors. In the case of firms, policy support has been mainly channelled via the banking sector, largely in the form of government-guaranteed credit and central bank measures to support credit. By contrast, direct fiscal support in the form of automatic stabilisers such as unemployment benefits or short-time working schemes, rather than bank credit, has constituted the backbone of the policy actions aimed at supporting the household sector. Chart 14 Bank loans  https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200519~e5203d3520.en.html  10/14  5/19/2020  Pandemic central banking: the monetary stance, market stabilisation and liquidity  (annual percentage changes)  Source: ECB. Notes: Monthly data. Adjusted loans (i.e. adjusted for sales, securitisation and cash pooling activities). The latest observations are for March 2020. While credit volumes are holding up in the aggregate, there are also some strains. According to the survey on access to finance of enterprises (conducted between 2 March and 8 April), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reported – in net terms – a decline in the expected availability of bank loans across countries and sectors (Chart 15). Chart 15 Change in the actual and expected availability of bank loans for SMEs across countries (net percentages of respondents, over the past and next six months)  Source: ECB and European Commission survey on the access to finance of enterprises (SAFE).