US Economy Likely to Contract in Second Quarter
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Thursday that despite signs of a US economic recovery, figures will likely show gross domestic product contracting in the second quarter of 2009.
“I suspect that GDP numbers will still show that the economy contracted in the second quarter, that job loss is still a huge problem,” Obama said.
His comments come ahead of the publication on Friday of results offering a snapshot of how the world’s largest economy fared between April and June.
Many hope those figures will point to the end of an 18-month crippling recession, after desperately gloomy figures in the previous two quarters.
Figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the economy shrank 5.5 percent in the first quarter, after a 6.3 percent slide in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Obama, echoing the expectations of forecasters who see growth resuming in the second half of 2009, sounded an optimistic tone about the economy.
“We have seen a significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months,” Obama said, pointing to a slowing of job and output losses, and an easing of credit markets.
“All of that is a sign that we have stepped away from the precipice.”
“We were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. I think those fears have abated.”
“I suspect that GDP numbers will still show that the economy contracted in the second quarter, that job loss is still a huge problem,” Obama said.
His comments come ahead of the publication on Friday of results offering a snapshot of how the world’s largest economy fared between April and June.
Many hope those figures will point to the end of an 18-month crippling recession, after desperately gloomy figures in the previous two quarters.
Figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the economy shrank 5.5 percent in the first quarter, after a 6.3 percent slide in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Obama, echoing the expectations of forecasters who see growth resuming in the second half of 2009, sounded an optimistic tone about the economy.
“We have seen a significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months,” Obama said, pointing to a slowing of job and output losses, and an easing of credit markets.
“All of that is a sign that we have stepped away from the precipice.”
“We were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. I think those fears have abated.”
quoted from: Khaleej Times
