Washington: The US economy, still reeling under one of the worst-ever terror attacks in the history of the world, took its steepest dive in a decade in the July-September quarter - far worse than first thought, according to revised government figures.

The new, grimmer measure of the US recession showed the gross domestic product (GDP) fell at an annualised rate of 1.1 per cent, down from the original estimate of a 0.4-per cent decline.

It was the biggest drop since the first quarter of 1991, the commerce department says. But experts say the government spending to shore up defences at home and pursue a military campaign in Afghanistan could accelerate a recovery, expected to take hold next year.

US President George W Bush has expressed his concern. The president is troubled by the fact that the economy has shrunken again in these revised figures, Bushs spokesman, Ari Fleischer, told reporters at the White House.

He pressed senators to overcome a seven-week wrangle blocking the path to a Congressional stimulus package worth up to $100 billion to help haul the economy out of recession.

Coming on the heels of a sluggish European economic growth report and with both the US and Japan in recession, experts say the new report confirmed a simultaneous worldwide decline. The GDP grew just 1.3 per cent year-on-year in the 12-country euro zone in the third quarter. In Japan, the GDP plunged by an annualised 2.9 per cent in the same period.

In the US, most analysts expected a gradually accelerating recovery in 2002, powered by tax cuts, government spending and lower interest rates.