NEW YORK (voa) – Economists at the World Economic Forum in New York City say the recession in the United States is probably over.
Gail Fosler, the chief economist of the Conference Board, an influential private research firm, said late Thursday that the U.S. economy is already recovering from its recent downturn.
U.S. officials said earlier this week that the U.S. economy grew slightly in the fourth quarter of 2001, countering forecasts that the economy would shrink for a second straight quarter.
The head of the German Institute for Economic Research, Klaus Zimmerman, told the forum that Europe’s economy is likely to pick up more slowly.
The meeting of around 3,000 business and political leaders opened in a New York City hotel Thursday amid heavy security and peaceful demonstrations from environmental, human rights, and anti-globalization groups.
In the largest demonstration, about 1,000 labor activists marched on a store of U.S. clothing retailer The Gap, accusing it running overseas “sweat-shops” with low wages and poor working conditions.
This is the first time in 31 years the meeting is not taking place in the Swiss resort town of Davos. The forum decided to hold this year’s meeting in New York City as a gesture of solidarity following the September 11 attacks that destroyed the city’s World Trade Center. The forum’s theme this year is “Leadership in Fragile Times: a Vision for a Shared Future.”
New York officials hope to avoid a repeat of last year’s forum in Davos, where angry anti-globalization protesters smashed windows, burned cars and clashed with police.
Concrete barriers ring the area around the hotel where the meeting is being held. About 4,000 police officers, some in riot gear, are patrolling the city’s Manhattan district on bike, on horseback and on foot. So far, police have made only six arrests related to the forum, which runs through next Tuesday.
In one incident, five women were arrested for climbing to a building rooftop and unfurling a banner criticizing President Bush and big companies for their treatment of people with AIDS.
Several hundred practitioners of the banned Chinese meditation sect Falun Gong demonstrated Thursday behind a police barricade, where they had draped a banner saying, “Help Stop State Terrorism in China.”
Anti-global activists say planned protests during the forum will be peaceful.
