While the savage attacks on America of September 11 will be classified primarily as political terrorism with the aim of causing massive loss of life and severely denting superpower pride and prestige, some of its most lasting and potent results will be on the economic front.

It is unlikely that even the terrorists and their masters could have envisaged the scale of the economic turmoil that America would be plunged into - although suspicious trading of airline, insurance, oil and gold stocks and techniques such as short selling of some of these prior to September 11 have led investigators to believe that one of the cells of the terrorist network had set out to profit from the destruction wrought by the suicide bombers on four commercial aircraft.

Coming in the backdrop of the economic downturn in the US, the attacks have most likely pushed the American economy into several quarters of recession. The ripple effect has been more like a tsunami.

First to face the effects of the attack was quite naturally the airline industry. Already a tighly run operation with slim profit margins in recent years, the sudden stoppage of its service for days and a steep decline in passenger demand has left it cash-strapped and 100,000 airline workers without jobs. Whether the US$15 billion bail-out by the American government will resuscitate it and prevent bankruptcies is iffy.

But even more disastrous and devastating has been the decline on Wall Street. Not since the the Great Depression of the 1930s have the US financial markets seen such a flight of capital and erosion of values. Every major index has been hit. The Dow in one week is down an unfathomable 1,370 points - 14.26% compared to the 15.5% decline in 1933. The Standard and Poor's and the Nasdaq have fared no better and global stock markets have taken their cue from Wall Street. Richard Cripps, chief market strategist at Legg Mason Wood Walker was moved to say in a Reuters report "you can't get a historical parallel. We are boxing with a ghost".

The collapse into the bear market is hinged mainly on one factor - confidence. In the wake of threatened war and soft economic growth, the average working class investor, institutional investors and every other class of venture capitalist is heading south and taking the markets with them.

Confidence, as Venus Williams recently whispered in one of her fashion commercials, is a very fragile thing. We are all seeing it right before our eyes and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the world.

The knock on effects of the decline of the airline industry and the stock market will be felt everywhere starting with the worried American consumer who will spend far less. Businesses in the US will cut back and spend less. Imports will decline and impact on small economies such as ours. The thriving tourism industry in Jamaica and The Bahamas is already feeling the drought of US tourists and airlines servicing these destinations will feel the squeeze. Dire warnings are already being issued on the long-term impact on these economies. Remittances from the US to the Caribbean - a significant source of foreign exchange - is expected to drop sharply. Looking at it from our perspective, the loss of 23 Guuyanese breadwinners will reduce flows coming to their families here. The fall-out from the coming war is a huge unknown and will only add to the fears.

It is an example for us here in Guyana how shattered confidence and fears of instability can do real harm to an economy, discourage investment dollars and paralyse chances for growth. Only in this case, our wounds are self-inflicted. The way American citizens and their politicians have banded together to bind their wounds and take on their attackers should serve as an example to us. May the dialogue between our leaders continue to prosper.

There is another chilling jeopardy of the September 11 attacks. The impact on the American economy could very well inspire similar strikes whose intent are purely economic terrorism. The violent anti-globalisation and anarchist assaults at recent trade and international meetings provide fertile ground for this kind of reaction to be catalysed.

If the American economy could be sent into such a state of shock, think of what the repercussions might be on a smaller, less elastic or more troubled economy with meagre reserves and without America's capacity to respond.

While speculative attacks on some Asian currencies in the past have followed more conventional methods, what is to stop warped minds planning attacks primarily to cause desolation and perhaps to profit.

It is a hypothetical situation that the international financial instititions must begin seriously addressing. They must not only be focused on what can go economically and financially wrong in any country but also how economies can be deliberately undermined by terrorism and political instability. How to limit the economic consequences of the attack on America for other countries in an increasingly integrated, globalised economy is also another challenge that has to be faced up to. September 11 has thrown up an array of frightening scenarios that will have to be confronted.