Call that a credit crunch? For many greenshooters, it is already fading from memory. But caution is still in order. Lending remains weak, in spite of government support for the banks and lavish quantitative easing. Sure, the Bank of England on Tuesday reported that mortgage approvals for house buying rose in April for the third month in a row, from 40,000 to 43,000. But, as Capital Economics notes, approvals are a long way off the 70,000 to 80,000 levels previously consistent with house price inflation. At this rate, approvals will not hit that level for 12 months.

The corporate sector, as surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry, is also still being squeezed, particularly for trade credit insurance. The availability of both existing and new credit deteriorated further in the three months to May, but for a smaller proportion of companies than before. A net 20 per cent of firms reported that new credit had become harder to access, compared with figures of 36 per cent and 62 per cent in March and January. The good news is that firms, on balance, foresee no change in credit availability over the next three months, suggesting a floor is in sight.