Source: CCTV.com

11-25-2008 13:29

Special Report:   Global Financial Crisis

US President George W. Bush said that the government's rescue of Citigroup was necessary to protect the country's financial system and help the economy recover. He added that there could be more such moves if other institutions need help.

President George W. Bush speaks about the economy next to U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson outside of the Treasury Building in Washington November 24, 2008.(Larry Downing/Reuters)
President George W. Bush speaks about the economy next to 
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson outside of the 
Treasury Building in Washington November 24, 2008.(Larry 
Downing/Reuters)

Speaking at a press conference the President said he had approved the Citigroup rescue action after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and cabinet members. He suggested similar measures would be taken in the future if necessary.

George W. Bush said "This is a tough situation for America. But we'll recover from it. And the first step to recovery is to safeguard our financial system. Last night on Air Force One coming back from Peru, I talked at length to the Secretary about his recommendation. The decision was made to safeguard Citigroup. We have made these kind of decisions in the past -- made one last night. And if need be, we're going to make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future."

The US government unveiled its bold plan to inject 20 billion US dollars into troubled banking giant Citigroup over the weekend. Experts say the rescue package should be enough to keep the company afloat.

Neil Weinberg, Senior Editor of Forbes Manazine said "What you can see is that you can do the addition and the subtraction, and assuming that the other businesses continue to generate profits, one would think that the math adds up that this would probably be enough to tide them through. But of course you don't know precisely how great their losses are going to be in the future. The government is guaranteeing that it will pick up some bad debt for them, but Citigroup will still have some responsibility for that."

After Bush spoke, the White House admitted it hadn't decided on which companies it might help next, but said the Treasury is reconsidering whether to leave half the 700 billion bailout plan for the Obama administration.

 

Editor:Xiong Qu