clipped from: www.telegraph.co.uk   

"The liquidity crunch is increasingly threatening the survival of companies, as well as finance for new orders," said Hans Heinrich Driftmann, president of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). "This is becoming a danger to possible recovery."

Mr Driftmann said Germany's €2,500 (£2,100) bonus for trading in old cars had given an artificial boost for a few months but was now returning like a "boomerang" to haunt the auto-industry. "It was a flash in the pan, not a real rebound," he said.

"Financial conditions are getting worse for important sectors of the economy," said the report. It found that borrowing costs had risen for most firms even though the European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate to an historic low of 1pc.

Europe's industrial output continued to slide in April and was down 22pc from a year earlier, suggesting that talk of a "V-shaped" rebound is premature. At best, the pace of decline has slowed. Production fell 23pc in Germany and 24pc in Italy.