From the Associated Press:
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer


WASHINGTON — Hurricane Katrina is expected to cut employment by 400,000 jobs, slash economic growth by as much as a full percentage point this year and result in a spike in gasoline prices of possibly 40 percent this month.

Those were the forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office in a report Wednesday providing the government's first assessment of the economic impact from the country's worst natural disaster. The CBO said Katrina will have a greater impact than previous killer storms but should not be serious enough to push the country into a recession.

However, the CBO cautioned that the "significant but not overwhelming" blow the economy will suffer would be decidedly more serious if energy supply disruptions along the Gulf Coast last longer than expected.

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