Now, A World in Recession

In late summer, there remained a chance that the world might still avoid recession: Japan was in a mild recession, Europe was expected to emerge from a slowdown, and the US was caught between slipping briefly on an economic banana peel and outright recession. Not surprisingly, the dramatic loss of confidence worldwide following the attacks of September 11th has tilted the balance toward recession. Even if the IMF is not yet ready to use the word, the world is in recession. World economic growth, which has averaged 3.8% over the past 35 years and more than 4% last year, is now poised to fall to only about 2%.