thr 008                                                               


Press-US-Attack  /GNR/                                                


   Global recession looms large after recent US attacks: daily       


Tehran, Sept 16, IRNA -- `Iran News' in its editorial on Sunday       


warned that a global recession is very likely in the wake of last     


Tuesday's horrific events in the U.S. which dealt a heavy blow on     


international financial markets and the global air transport business.


    The shock of the U.S. attacks continues to reverberate as         


New York buried its fallen heroes and citizens and Wall Street        


announced it would reopen on Monday.                                  


    "Prices of commodity goods rose sharply all week long, while      


stocks and bonds plummeted," noted the daily.                         


    In addition, the price of Middle East crude rose by as much as    


dlrs 2 to dlrs 3 per barrel before the Organization of Petroleum      


Exporting Countries (OPEC) dampened speculation by increasing OPEC    


production ceilings, it added.                                        


    The terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade       


Center in New York and the Pentagaon in Washington is estimated to    


cost the U.S. billions of dollars which could actually trigger a      


global recession.                                                     


    The world hopes this can still be averted, the daily said.        


    But, the fact is, with "long-term prospects for global growth are 


(already) bleak," a slowdown is inevitable with the U.S. market badly 


damaged by the terrorist attacks, it said.                            


    "It is really hard to see how a global recession can be avoided   


since trading in Asian and European markets has been subdued," it     


continued.                                                            


    And, as international anxiety mounts over a real possibility      


of a U.S. military strike on suspected terrorists, the situation      


could take a turn for the worse, the editorial said.                  


    It further noted that U.S. central bankers sought to soothe       


markets all week by pumping more than dlrs 100 billion into the market


to ensure their proper functioning.                                   


    U.S. President George W. Bush, during a visit to the site of      


massive devastation, also assured New Yorkers of $40 billion in       


federal funds to help rebuild the city's infrastructure as well as the


Pentagon.                                                             


    It is to be noted that the WTO accounted for "dlrs 6 trillion     


in annual trade last year," the daily revealed.                       


    But it regretted the fact that although "the richest G-7 nations  


possess 70 percent of the total wealth in the world, 137 countries in 


the G-77 group in the Third World possess less than 20 percent of the 


total investment in the world (although) they account for 4 billion of


the world's population."                                              


    "It is high time that the G-7 Finance Ministers from the Group    


of Seven stopped to reconsider the situation on the ground as they    


consider meeting in Italy rather than Washington later this           


month," the editorial concluded.                                      


FH/LS                                                                 


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::irna    12:11