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Citaat:

The impact on the global economy of the terrorist attacks on America on 11 September is difficult to determine because such attacks happened when the world was already experiencing a pervasive economic slowdown. Already by the end of 2000 and early 2001, "market participants had become concerned about the extent of slowdown in the United States and global economies, as growth in the United States had slowed unexpectedly sharply while an expected pick up in Europe and Japan was failing to materialize." Terrorist attacks may have aggravated the situation. They came at such a fragile moment for the American and world economies.

A University of Michigan survey conducted before the attacks (but published afterwards) showed American consumer confidence at its lowest level for eight years. The attacks aggravated the situation and negatively affected the stock markets. The survey concluded that the American economy was heading into recession even before 11 September. Since the world's economies are unusually synchronized at present, the sharp slowdown in America meant that the global economy was on the verge of its first recession since 1990.

Lowest Growth of World Production in 2001
The slowdown in the world economy may have led to the lowest growth of Growth World Product (GWP) in a decade. GWP grew little more than one percent in 2001 and the volume of world trade stagnated. The weakness became more widespread as the year progressed, with three quarters of the world's economies registering lower economic growth than in the previous year. More than 12 economies, accounting for more than two thirds of world output (including the world's three largest economies), were falling into recession. Growth in developing countries was also the lowest in a decade. Economies in transition were also declining.