US Economic Growth Expected to Move Higher Later This Year: OfficialUS Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, citing stimuli from monetary easing and tax cuts, said Thursday he is confident that the US economy will move to a higher growth later this year.Speaking at a press conference before he leaves for a meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers to be held Saturday in Rome, Italy, O'Neill said "we have real strength in our economy and we are bouncing around in narrow positive territory." O'Neill said that while some industries, notably telecommunications and computers, were experiencing significant weakness, he "took comfort" from the fact that housing sales and auto sales have remained strong, despite the overall slowdown. He said growth should be aided further as the government begins mailing out 40 billion U.S. dollars in tax refund checks in the next two and a half months. "We expect tax cuts ... to contribute to growth going forward, in the context of a supportive macroeconomic environment," he said. O'Neill said that development in the world economy will be "a key focus" when he meets on Saturday for discussions with finance ministers from the world's seven richest industrial countries, the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada. Noting that the United States is doing its part to contribute to strong and stable growth worldwide, O'Neill urged European Union and Japan to play a locomotive role in stimulating world economic growth. "Europe and Japan are also obviously very big and very important, and they can play a locomotive role, and they need to play a locomotive role as well," he said. O'Neill said he and his counterparts from G-7 members also will discuss other key issues such as the reform of the international financial structure, debt relief for the poorest countries, as well as anti-laundering. |
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