The Damage that Katrina could still wreak (economist)

[Mari333]

Nor will the effects of Hurricane Katrina be limited to the Gulf Coast and the offices of a few agitated insurers. Analysts are busy rewriting their forecasts of America’s fourth-quarter GDP growth to take into account the expected economic repercussions of the devastation. The affected area’s ports move a large fraction of the nation’s imports—including critical oil and gas supplies—as well as roughly half its exports of agricultural commodities like corn and soyabeans. Action Economics, a market-analysis firm, has already nudged its forecast for GDP growth down to 4.4% from 4.6%, at an annualised rate, for the current (third) quarter.









http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4339099