Further, the Wall Street Journal quoted economists as forecasting that the United States will see an annualized GDP decline of 4.6 percent in the first three months of 2009 and a 1.5 percent decline in the second quarter.

Meanwhile in Europe, flash official figures released on last Friday suggest that GDP in both the European Union (EU) and the euro zone contracted steeply in the fourth quarter of 2008, falling for the third quarter in a row.

The 1.5 percent GDP decline in both the euro zone and the EU from the previous quarter is even worse than the 1 percent contraction in the US economy during the same period.

The German economy, which is Europe's biggest, shrank by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter last year compared with the previous one, representing the biggest decline since the country's reunification nearly two decades ago.

Germany's reliance on exports of goods like cars and factory equipment have made it particularly vulnerable to the global economic turmoil and collapsing world trade.

In Britain, the central bank predicted last Wednesday that the country's economy could shrink as much as 6 percent in 2009 compared with the previous year, with rising unemployment, weak consumer spending and low investment levels threatening to further dampen output.

The economies of France and Italy declined by 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent respectively versus the previous quarter, wiping out any illusion that the euro zone is getting off lightly amid the worldwide meltdown.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, recently said that leading economies are already in depression, adding that the worst was probably still to come, urging swifter and more determined stimulus action from governments.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2009)