Loans to eurozone businesses still weak: ECB

FRANKFURT, Feb 27 (AFP): Lending to businesses in the debt-mired eurozone contracted again in January, data published by the European Central Bank showed on Thursday.

Private sector loans dropped by 2.0 per cent in January in a year-on-year comparison, the ECB said, after already contracting by 2.3 per cent in December.

The Frankfurt-based ECB also published its latest money supply figures, a preliminary indicator of inflation, showing a 1.2-per cent increase in January after a rise of 1.0 per cent in December.