U.S. not to scale back stimulus too early: Geithner+

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland, Nov. 8 Kyodo -
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated Saturday that the United
States will not withdraw its stimulus measures until the nascent economic
recovery takes hold.

''If we put the brakes on too quickly, we will weaken the economy and the
financial system, unemployment will rise, more businesses will fail, budget
deficits will rise, and the ultimate cost of the crisis will be greater,'' he
said in a statement after a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and emerging
economies' finance chiefs.
Geithner pointed to the need to bolster growth to create jobs and get
businesses investing again to underpin the recovery in the housing market and
to fix the credit markets.
''It is too early to start to lean against recovery. The classic mistake in
past crises was to put on the brakes too quickly,'' he said.
While the U.S. economy grew in the third quarter of 2009 for the first time in
five quarters, the nation's jobless rate shot up to 10.2 percent in October,
the highest in 26 years and six months.
The G-20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States, as well as the
rotating presidency of the European Union.
==Kyodo
2009-11-08 21:34:28