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US Treasury Secretary expects growth in 4th Quarter and into 2010

19 November 2009 17:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku -APA-Economics. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he expects U.S. economic growth will extend into next year and called on Congress to pass â€œas soon as possibleâ€ legislation intended to prevent another financial crisis, Bloomberg reported.
â€œWe expect continued growth in the fourth quarter and ahead in 2010,â€ Geithner said in prepared testimony today to the Joint Economic Committee.
Geithner urged Congress to pass a financial regulation overhaul intended to strengthen the banking system and guard against â€œmarket-driven excess,â€ to avoid a repeat of the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Congress is considering a plan that includes changes to oversight of large banks, consumer protection and derivatives.
â€œWe should never again face a situation -- so devastating in the case of AIG -- where a virtually unregulated major player in the derivatives market can impose risks on the entire system,â€ Geithner said, referring to American International Group Inc., the insurance company whose near collapse prompted government intervention to protect the rest of the financial system.
The U.S. economy is projected to grow 3 percent at an annual rate in the final three months of 2009, the latest Bloomberg News survey of economists showed, after expanding at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter.