Geithner sees too much economic pessimism: report

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US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned against too much pessimism about the US economy, in an interview published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.

“I think people are too dark about the economy now, in part because of the shadow of pessimism, skepticism about our political system today,” said Geithner, who is set to leave his post soon.

The Treasury chief was referring to the political gridlock that has gripped Washington as President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies battled with the US House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans for the past two years.

“But, and for the moment it’s very hard to do, if you look past the political dysfunction, the economy looks encouragingly resilient,” he told the Journal.

Most economists predict the US economy will grow only slowly in 2013.

The government will publish on January 30 its first estimate of gross domestic product growth for the 2012 fourth quarter and the full year.

Expectations were for subpar growth of about 2.0 percent in 2012, slightly better than the 1.8 percent pace of 2011.