Developed world slides into recession

LONDON: The world's developed economies, hard hit by the financial crisis, have slid into recession and will shrink further in 2009, a top international organization said yesterday.

In its latest economic forecasts, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said gross domestic product was likely to fall by 0.3 percent in 2009 for its 30 member countries.

It said the US economy would contract next year by 0.9 percent, Japan's by 0.1 percent and the euro area by 0.5 percent.