Two of Europe's biggest economies are said to be on the brink of recession. A downgraded forecast from the Bank of France, which predicted growth would drop to minus 0.1 percent in the third quarter, showed the country was heading into recession after a 0.3 percent contraction in the previous three months. In Germany, a group of leading economic think tanks said that Europe's biggest economy was likely to grow only at around 0.2 percent in 2009. Germany's closely watched ZEW economic indicator also plunged by 21.9 points in results gathered in the heat of the international financial crisis. In London, figures from the continent's other major economy showed Britain's inflation rate surged to a 16-year high point of 5.2 percent in September. The US economy is already in recession.
