Recovery of US economy to take years: Obama

The recovery of US economy, currently reeling under the worst ever economic crisis after the Great Depression, would take years not months, the US President, Barack Obama has said.

Addressing a meeting of top US corporate leaders, hours before the Congress finally passed the $789 billion stimulus package, Obama said this is the beginning of the hard work they all would have to do in coming years to bring the country's economic back on track.

"Passing this plan is a critical step, but as important as it is, it's only the beginning of what I think all of you understand is going to be a long and difficult process of turning our economy around," Obama said addressing an audience of top US business executives.

"To truly address this crisis, we will also need to address the crisis in our financial sector to get credit flowing again to families and businesses. We need to confront the crisis in the housing sector that's been one of the sources of our economic challenges," Obama said.

The US president said a 'comprehensive financial reform' in the way government relates to financial markets to deal with the complex challenges of the 21st century is need of the hour to ensure that a crisis like this can never happen again.

While investments in the short term is important to get the economy moving again, Obama said, "I also think it's important for us to think in the midterm and long term.

And ... to have fiscal discipline. We are not going to be able to perpetually finance the levels of debt that the federal government occur and carry."

Agreeing that all this is not going to be easy, Obama said, "Our recovery will likely be measured in years and not months. All of us -- government, business, labour, and citizens -- will have responsibilities to meet."

Media reports said at least two Indian corporate leaders Mukesh Ambani of Reliance and Aziz Premji of Wipro also attended the meeting.

However, the White House could not confirm it. According to the White House, the top American corporate leaders who attended the meeting included Richard Anderson (Delta Air Lines), Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs) and Michale Dell (Dell).

Source: www.rediff.com, by Lalit Jha