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Geithner: Too soon to decide on more stimulus

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-12 14:48

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it was too soon to decide whether the US economy would need the help of a second round of government stimulus to recover from recession.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies during a joint hearing of the House Financial Services and the Agriculture Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, July 10, 2009. [Agencies]

"I don't think that's a judgment we need to make now, can't really make it now prudently, responsibly," Geithner said in a taped interview with CNN that will air on Sunday.

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According to a transcript provided by CNN, Geithner said the "biggest thrust" of the $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts signed into law earlier this year would take effect in the second half of the year.

He also said a program that is setting up public-private partnerships to buy up toxic assets held by banks would likely see less use than had been expected a few months ago because the financial system had begun to stabilize.

President Barack Obama on Saturday dismissed the idea that the US might need a second stimulus to jolt the economy out of recession and urged Americans to be patient with his economic recovery plan.

He criticized Republicans for opposing the stimulus but offering few alternatives to the worst recession since the Great Depression. And he rejected talk of a second stimulus, an idea that has been discussed by Democrats and even famed investor Warren Buffett.

The stimulus included $288 billion in tax cuts, dramatic increases in Medicaid spending, about $48 billion in highway and bridge construction and billions more to boost energy efficiency, shore up state budgets and improve schools.