Obama sees 'pillars' of recovery in place this year

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WASHINGTON, March 8 (AFP): President Barack Obama expects to have "all the pillars in place" this year for a US economic recovery while avoiding the need for new bailout funds for struggling financial firms, he said in an interview published yesterday.

"Our belief and expectation is that we will get all the pillars in place for recovery this year.... We have confidence that working with Congress we can get the pillars of recovery in place," the president told The New York Times.

Obama expressed confidence he would not have to ask lawmakers for new bailout funds, beyond the 250-billion-dollars foreseen for financial institutions in the current budget.

His comments come amid concern that government spending, which has ballooned in a bid to stem the crisis, will result in major long-term economic damage.

"We think the 250-billion-dollar placeholder is a pretty good estimate. We have no reason to revise that estimate that's in the budget," Obama said.

When asked if he would allow a major institution to fail and whether he would need more bailout funds, Obama said: "I think people can be assured that we'll do whatever is required to keep that from happening."

But Obama warned that even with measures in place, the timeframe for pulling the United States out of its current economic funk would depend on global coordination and regions such as Europe dealing with structural "weaknesses."

"How long it will take before recovery actually translates into stronger job markets and so forth is going to depend on a whole range of factors including our ability to get other countries to coordinate and take similar actions," he said. "Part of what you're seeing now is weaknesses in Europe that are actually greater than some of the weaknesses here, bouncing back and having an impact on our markets."