The decline was again substantially stronger than expected by banks in the previous quarter. The net decrease in loan demand was the strongest since the start of the survey in 2003 for SMEs (net percentage of -40%, see Chart 7), while the net decrease in demand for loans to large firms (net percentage of -34%) remained slightly more limited than during the global financial crisis. In addition, the net decrease in demand was the strongest over the history of the survey for long-term loans (-46%), while demand for short-term loans decreased to a lesser extent (-22%) but still close to the historical low of the global financial crisis.