The United States economic recovery is spreading to other countries, marking the start of a fully-fledged global rebound, US Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor said on Tuesday.
”What we are seeing now with information well into the second quarter is that the US recovery is on track … and that that’s beginning to have a wider effect on the world economy,” Taylor told a news briefing at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
”It looks like there’s a full-fledged global recovery under way,” he said.
Taylor said he expected annualised US economic growth of two to three percent in the second quarter, after inventory factors resulted in an artificially strong first quarter reading of 5,6%. Growth was expected to be more than 3% in the fourth quarter, he said.
US growth and inflation would not be disrupted by the dollar’s recent depreciation, Taylor predicted.
Both inflation and growth were ”on track” and changes in the value of the dollar would not have an impact on this, he explained.
He also criticised a decision by the European Union to retaliate against US tariffs on steel imports, saying ”retaliation is a form of raising trade barriers.
”The EU and other key US trading partners have gone to the World Trade Organization to challenge President George W. Bush’s decision to impose three-year tariffs of between eight and 30% on a range of steel imports.
While Bush said the curbs were needed to temporarily protect the struggling US steel industry, EU officials have denounced them as a unilateral violation of free trade principles. – Sapa-AFP