The ECB has stabilised the sovereign debt of the so-called Club Med countries, but cheap credit is not reaching the firms that desperately need it. Goldman Sachs said the North-South spread in funding costs is back to the extreme levels seen in late 2011, with Italian and Spanish firms paying almost twice as much as German rivals to borrow for up to five years. It said the ECB may have to try “direct measures” to target credit at countries starved of funds.