The flow of lending to businesses contracted for an eighth consecutive month in September, according to the Bank of England.

The Bank's Trends in Lending report revealed that Bank lending to businesses fell by £4.6bn in September. That was more than the £1.1bn contraction in August but less than the record £15.6bn contraction in July of this year.

The central bank has identified constraints to lending to businesses as a major stumbling block in the way of a sustainable recovery and is monitoring such flows carefully.

Year-on-year, lending to businesses fell by 6.0% in September after a fall of 4.3% in August.