US in recession - official

The US entered a recession in March of this year - it's official.

The ruling has been made by the National Bureau of Economic Research, composed of academic economists from Harvard, Stanford and other prestigious universities.

The decision means that the longest expansion in American history lasted 120 months, breaking the old record for growth set in the 1960s.

It also means the country has entered its tenth recession since the end of the Second World War at the same time - March.

At the White House, the Bush administration said the latest news was further evidence of the need for Congress to pass an economic stimulus package.

"The president has been worried about the strength of the economy for a long period of time," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

"If the report indicates from an economic or statistical point of view that we're in a recession, that makes it even more important for the Senate to take action.

"There is no need to further any recession," Fleischer said. "The Senate needs to act so that the economy can recover. Failure to act in the Senate risks prolonging a recession."

"The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee has determined that a peak in business activity occurred in the US economy in March 2001," the panel said in its announcement.

"A peak marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession."