| A leading economic research
organisation in the United
States says the country is
officially in recession. The
National Bureau of Economic
Research says that the
American economy has been in
decline since December 2007
when it reached its peak. It warned that the downturn could be the worst since World War Two. The body said its business cycle dating committee members met by conference call on Friday
and concluded that the economic expansion that started in
November 2001 had ended. The previous period of economic
expansion, which ended in 2001, lasted 10 years. The current recession, which many economists expect to persist through the middle of next year, is already the
third-longest since the Great Depression, behind only the
16-month slumps of the mid-1970s and early 1980s. The announcement caused US share prices to
plunge. |
