Written by Bloomberg
Monday, 10 August 2009 12:04
KUALA LUMPUR: The US economy is stabilising and may have bottomed out, as the government’s stimulus plan probably saved a million jobs, Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said yesterday.A second stimulus package for the economy is still needed, and should be directed at state and local governments as well as infrastructure spending, he said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. The world economy may face several years of weak growth without falling into a “double-dip” recession, he said.“It’s quite possible, though not certain, that retrospectively, we’ll say that the recession ended in July or August, maybe September,” Krugman said. “My guess is that we’ve bottomed out now, that August was probably the trough month.” The pace of US job losses slowed more than forecast in July and the unemployment rate dropped for the first time in more than a year to 9.4%. President Barack Obama said the unemployment numbers indicate “the worst may be behind us” for the recession. — Bloomberg
Monday, 10 August 2009 12:04
KUALA LUMPUR: The US economy is stabilising and may have bottomed out, as the government’s stimulus plan probably saved a million jobs, Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said yesterday.A second stimulus package for the economy is still needed, and should be directed at state and local governments as well as infrastructure spending, he said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. The world economy may face several years of weak growth without falling into a “double-dip” recession, he said.“It’s quite possible, though not certain, that retrospectively, we’ll say that the recession ended in July or August, maybe September,” Krugman said. “My guess is that we’ve bottomed out now, that August was probably the trough month.” The pace of US job losses slowed more than forecast in July and the unemployment rate dropped for the first time in more than a year to 9.4%. President Barack Obama said the unemployment numbers indicate “the worst may be behind us” for the recession. — Bloomberg