West German economists see possible recession

The West German government unveiled the first postwar economic report ever to raise the specter of recession here and made clear that prospects for the economy in 1981 were gloomier than previously assumed. The report foresaw at best stagnation this year for Western Europe's most powerful economy -- and at worst a 1 percent fall in gross national product. The country's balance- of-payments deficit, cited by the report as the prime cause for the weakness of the mark, was e xpected to be smaller than in 1980.