Bank lending to businesses is set to rise this year for the first time since 2008, according to the EY Item Club.

The lending measure peaked in 2008 at £575bn, but has withered each year since, said the economic forecasting group.

The £4.3bn of extra lending banks offered in the first five months of 2015 suggests a year-on-year rise this time, it said.

However, the growth will only be 0.25%, it added.

"With the economy growing at a steady pace and business investment set to rise at an annual average of 6.5% over the next three years, the forecast suggests that the days of lending contraction are in the past," said the group.

Mortgage lending will climb at an average of 3.8% year until 2019, it said - double the rate from 2010 until 2014, but at a slower rate than before the crisis.

Andrew Goodwin, senior economic advisor to the EY Item Club, said: "With homeowners set for the sixth year running of historically low borrowing costs, the demand for mortgages should continue to grow healthily, albeit at a far from spectacular pace.

"But while a low interest rate environment is good news for consumers, the prospect of a further year of squeezed interest margins is not what the banks were hoping for."

Omar Ali, EY UK head of banking and capital markets, said: "Consumer credit finally turned the corner in 2014, and now business lending will hopefully follow suit.

"The rising demand from businesses for new loans is good news for the banks, but the June drop in net lending shows how vulnerable they are to bigger businesses, with access to alternative sources of finance such as bonds, paying off overdrafts in preparation for rising interest rates."