US economy to rebound later this year: Cheney
( 2001-09-17 10:16 ) (7 )

Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the US economy "quite possibly" could be in recession, but he expected it would rebound later this year and urged Americans not to change their spending habits.

Asked in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the United States was now in both a war and a recession, Cheney said, "Quite possibly. We clearly have a war against terrorism and we don't know yet what the third quarter is going to be like" in the economy.

Second quarter gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity in the United States, showed tiny 0.2 per cent growth, revised downward from a 0.7 per cent increase initially tallied.

A further downward revision of second quarter GDP to a decline and a third quarter decline would technically place the economy in recession, Cheney said. A recession is loosely defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction in GDP.

The current third quarter ends Sept. 30, but the US Commerce Department does not release its early estimate of GDP until late October. The unemployment rate shot up last month to 4.9 per cent, up four-tenths of a per centage point,

"We look forward to recovery later this year from the slowdown that we've been through and I have every confidence that will in fact happen," Cheney said.

Cheney, who last year was among the first to warn the US economy was headed for recession, also said on Sunday he hoped Americans would not allow the attacks last week at the World Trade Center and Pentagon to curtail their normal economic activity.

"I would hope the American people would stick their thumb in the eye of the terrorist and say that they have great confidence in the country, great confidence in our economy and not let what's happened here in any way throw off their normal level of economic activity," Cheney said.

Asked if he was concerned about the stock markets which have been closed since Monday, Cheney said "our economy is strong. I do believe the market is going to open tomorrow, that's clearly the current plan and expectation."

Amid the longest closure since World War I, testing done on Saturday to check the operations of the markets was successful, putting the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and other markets on track to open at 9" Four US commercial airliners were hijacked on Tuesday, two of which crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers, toppling the 110-story structures and paralyzing the financial markets.

A third hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon outside Washington and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Thousands of people are feared dead in the strikes that the Bush administration has called "acts of war."