Financial Crisis Triggers Worldwide Economic Slump

Against the background of the dramatic aggravation of the financial crisis the world economy is in a downturn. After four years of strong economic growth the economy already cooled down in 2007. World trade has expanded only marginally in recent months. A further weakening in 2009 is already foreseeable. The cyclical downturn was triggered by the crisis in the US real estate sector. An additional factor was the surge in world market prices for crude oil and food, which dampened the disposable income of private households in industrialised and other raw material importing countries. Eventually, the financial crisis exacerbated the economic downturn.