Lending to businesses in the debt-mired eurozone contracted sharply in October, data published by the European Central Bank showed on Thursday. Private sector loans dropped by 2.1 percent in October in a year-on-year comparison, the ECB said, after already contracting by 2.0 percent in September. The Frankfurt-based ECB also published its latest money supply figures, a preliminary indicator of inflation, showing a 1.4-percent increase in October after a rise of 2.0 percent in September.