War clouds

Central banks in Germany and Italy warned that the global economy was being harmed by the tension and the European Commission said a lasting spike in oil prices could heap more damage on the spluttering euro-zone economy.
“A stagnation or even a recession in the euro area cannot be excluded,” the Commission said in its “worst-case” assessment of what a U.S.-led attack on Iraq could mean for the euro zone.
It has also almost halved its estimates for euro-zone growth in 2003 and says hopes for a recovery next year depend on the uncertainty around Iraq being dispersed.