Washington, 30 October 1997 (RFE/RL) - A top U.S. economic official says the current turmoil on international financial markets reflects a slowdown of economic growth in Asia that could also moderate U.S. exports to the region.
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, said yesterday that growing global links run the risk of spreading weakness from one economy to others. He said that inter-relationship can be expected to affect U.S. economic growth.
But he said in testimony to a U.S. Congressional Committee that in any case the pace of economic growth in the U.S. could not be sustained indefinitely and that the Asian slowdown and current turmoil on financial markets do not threaten U.S. prosperity.
Greenspan said the U.S. should stand ready to give temporary assistance to Asian countries to assure that their situations stabilize. He said this is in U.S. interest, as well as other countries around the world.