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$134.4 bln left in $700 billion US stability fund

21 April 2009 17:13 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“APA-Economics. The US Treasury has 134.6 billion dollars remaining from a 700-billion-dollar emergency program passed by Congress last year to stabilize the financial system, Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday, AFP reported.
In a letter to the Congressional Oversight Panel, Geithner said the administration of George W. Bush had already committed 355.4 billion dollars before President Barack Obama took office.
He said Treasury officials estimate there is "at least 109.6 billion dollars" still available, and that some 25 billion dollars will be paid back over the next year from capital injected into commercial banks, making a total of 134.6 billion.
The comments were made in a letter to the congressional panel established to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
The 355.4 billion dollars allocated by the Bush administration included special aid to insurance giant AIG, ailing banks including Citigroup and Bank of America and the struggling automobile industry.
The head of the panel, Elizabeth Warren, said that the effectiveness of the program was still being assessed but that public discontent is significant.
"People are angry because they are paying for programs that haven’t been fully explained and that have no apparent benefit for their families or the economy as a whole, but seem to leave enough cash in the system for lavish bonuses and golf outings," she said.
"None of this seems fair."