17 September 2001, 16:44 O'Neill says US GDP should return to 3.2 pct growth next year
WASHINGTON (AFX) - Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said US GDP
growth should return to a faster pace of growth in coming months,
reaching 3.2 pct next year, despite the impact of terrorist attacks on
New York and Washington.
"I believe that we were beginning to crawl out of a very low rate
of real growth, and I think we'll continue with that movement," O'Neill
said in an interview on NBC television.
"Into next year we should return to something more like a normal
American growth rate of 3.2 pct or something in that order of
magnitude," he said.
He recognised that the economy will "have some dislocations,"
including in the transportation sector.
Asked whether the federal government would support financial
assistance for the airline or insurance sectors, O'Neill said "you can
be really sure we will move deliberately and swiftly."
"There's very broad sweep of work going to look at every sector and
to see what the real needs are and ... what the appropriate role of the
federal government is," he said.
New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso said on the same
program that when equity trading begins later this morning "there may
be volatility in the sort term."
However, he urged investors to look at the long term.
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