How the crisis is affecting you

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 23:00 GMT Debt in the eurozone, concerns over growth in Europe and the US, and turmoil on the financial markets have led to fears of a renewed financial crisis and recession.

The BBC has been asking how the crisis has been affecting you personally.

Here are some of your stories.

It sucks. I am 20 years old. I graduated from high school in 2009 and just wanted to start working.

Two years later I still don't have a job. I've mostly been looking for simple retail work. The number of jobs I've applied for must be in the hundreds, and I have had only one interview.

I haven't applied for any benefits because I've been told I'm not eligible as I haven't had a job before.

I live with my parents and my brother. I have taken a couple of college classes but I find it rather soul-crushing, and there doesn't seem to be any light, or indeed, an end, to the tunnel.

Philip Petersen, chief executive of AdInfa, says "The situation is tough but it presents opportunities"

I run a small software company. Our software helps people who run computer data centres save money by monitoring and managing their data usage.

I see the current economic situation as an opportunity. I believe the market demand for our kind of product is growing because organisations are much concerned about their operating costs, and energy is a growing item of expenditure.

The current economic situation, or that which has prevailed for the last couple of years, has definitely increased awareness of this issue.

However, one difficulty we are contending with is investment. Raising money for an early stage technology business, particularly if you are not in consumer, e-commerce, mobile or social networking, is plain hard and that is something we are contending with.

I run a home-made ice cream business on the seafront in Paros, but business has been horrible lately and I am closing my shop.

We rely on tourism - Greek tourists in particular - and there just aren't any.

I will close my books at the end of October. I've got about 90,000 euros' (￡78,000) worth of equipment but I probably won't be able to sell everything as everyone here is trying to sell.

When I told the local children that I was closing, they were so upset and burst into tears as they love the shop.

I am now going to do an online master's [degree]. I've made my budget for the next eight to 10 months, and will have to survive on 600-700 euros a month.

We are an Indian-based international distributor of books, DVDs, software and electronics.

Before the downturn, we were able to secure credit from our suppliers, but now we have to meet the condition of advance payment to fulfil our orders.

We are a registered company in India and the US. But Indian banks will not lend to us because of the uncertainty in US markets, and currently US banks are not lending at all.

To compound it all, even other lending companies and bill-discounting companies will not lend to us due to uncertainty in the mail order retail industry.

This has not only impacted on our performance - some of our orders are pending due to lack of funds and sometimes they are cancelled because of late delivery - but we have also had to put our expansion plans on hold.

I work as a hotel receptionist. I'm still being affected by the economy right now.

If you look at the cost of sugar now in Kenya and compare it with [what the] common mwananchi [man] earns, it is not fair at all.

Also house rents are very high, especially for people like me with no parents and no wife.

I lost my wife in July 2011. I have three children and I'm facing big problems. My wish is for the government to take action.

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