The worldwide crisis in financial markets and the deepening global economic recession are feeding off each other furiously in spite of governments slashing interest rates and ramping up public spending in their efforts to stave off a prolonged depression.
Analysts at JPMorgan note that 30 out of the 35 countries they cover saw activity contracting at the end of last year, with those economies most linked to global trade flows, rather than those at the root of the financial crisis, hit hardest.
