NEW YORK (AFX) - Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said US GDP growth will reach 3.2 pct in 2002.
In an interview with CNN television to be aired tomorrow, O'Neill said: "Oftentimes, the rate of increase coming out of a correction is much faster than what we're foreseeing in our expectations for the next calendar year. So I think we're in a reasonable range."
The Treasury Secretary also said "I'm not troubled that we're in a deflationary period," despite the release of weak consumer prices yesterday.
"You know, I think people need to be very careful about not making a one-time event or a few-days event into a trend. Again, if you follow these numbers like I do, you know that we've been up and down and up and down, and the numbers are not off of what seems like a reasonable level," he added.
A further tax cut is also on the cards, according to O'Neill, who, however, noted that "there's not room for more tax reductions at the moment."
He gave no further detail on the size or timing of such a reduction, adding that the tax cut will be carried out "when we can afford it. And I don't know exactly what the composition will be..."