Businesses in the UK raised £1.7 billion of net finance in May 2019, statistics from the Bank of England show.

This was lower than finance raised in April 2019, which totalled £5.5bn, but an increase on the 1.3bn raised in March.

The total was raised through sources including bank loans, bonds, equity and commercial paper.

The Bank says lending has been mainly driven by continued strength over recent months in net bond issuance, a form of longer-term borrowing from financial markets.

Additional lending to SMEs remained at £0.2bn in May, the same as the previous month.

In the last 12 months, growth rates for business lending have increased at a rate of 6.2% for large businesses, and 0.4% for small businesses.

Meanwhile, lending to individuals slowed, with annual growth in consumer credit decreasing to 5.6% in May.

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