The struggling US economy slipped into a recession in March, breaking a record 10-year-long expansion on its anniversary date, a panel of economists that dates US business cycles has said.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said that, after considering the blow the economy suffered from the September 11th attacks, it decided the economic slowdown was so pronounced that the economy was in recession.
"The committee is satisfied that the total contraction in the economy is sufficient to merit the determination that a recession is under way," the NBER's business cycle dating committee announced.
"The expansion that began in March 1991 ended in March 2001 and a recession began," the committee said in a statement posted on its website. "The expansion lasted exactly 10 years, the longest in the NBER's chronology".
But at least one of the six committee members suggested a recovery was possible by mid-2002.
Panel member Mr Ben Bernanke, a professor at Princeton University, said that based on past patterns of recessions lasting six to 18 months, "we would expect a trough, beginning a recovery by July next year".