Washington - President George W Bush sought to assure the
world that the US government was doing all it could to keep the
world's largest economy afloat as global stocks were in free-fall on
Friday.
Bush said a 'startling' drop in US stocks in the last few days was
being 'driven by uncertainty and fear,' and insisted the US already
had all the tools necessary to resolve the financial crisis.
'This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American
people,' Bush acknowledged. 'We will continue to act to resolve this
crisis and restore stability in our markets.'
US stocks have plummeted more than 10 per cent in the last three
days and continued falling on a wild trading day Friday. European
stocks also tumbled, leading some countries to temporarily halt
trading.
Bush said that international cooperation was key as finance
ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations prepared to meet
in Washington Friday.
Bush will meet with the G7 ministers on Saturday, while Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson will also be hosting an emergency meeting of
finance chiefs from the world's 20 leading economies.
'The world is sending an unmistakable signal: We're in this
together, we will come through this together,' Bush said in a
statement outside the White House.
Bush announced no new moves to ease the credit crunch. Instead he
cited the litany of government interventions and powers already in
play after Congress last week passed a 700-billion-dollar rescue
package that gives the Treasury broad authority to intervene in the
banking system.
'We know what the problems are, we have the tools to fix them and
we are working quickly to do so,' Bush said.
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