Lending to companies and households in the euro area fell the most on record in August, signalling that the economy is still struggling to recover from its longest-ever recession.

GERMANY may be on the brink of recession after the sovereign debt crisis caused the economy to contract in the final quarter of 2011.

THE European Central Bank will probably resist growing calls for it to slash interest rates next week, although a stalled eurozone economy will force the bank to cut them early next year, a Reuters poll showed.