Many eurozone businesses are still not getting the loans they need to expand – despite ultra-low interest rates – hobbling the region’s economic recovery. <br /><br />Newly released figures show that lending to companies contracted at the fastest pace on record in November.<br /><br />Banks remain reluctant to take on new risk and instead are trying to reduce their loan commitments.<br /><br />The data put pressure on the European Central Bank to do more to revive the currency bloc’s economy.<br /><br />It has cut interest rates to a record low and pumped extra liquidity into the banking system.<br /><br />The biggest decline was in Spain, where loans made to firms were down 13.5 percent on the same month a year earlier. <br /><br />Just five eurozone countries saw corporate lending grow in November, with France the only large economy among them. <br /><br />One factor which could have made banks more hesitant to lend is a bank asset-quality review – health checks – the ECB will conduct this year.<br /><br />Before the ECB starts supervising banks from November n
