24 October 2001, 08:29  DJ O'Neill/Airlines -2: US Going Through A Correction Period

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Tuesday he's confident the U.S. economy will swiftly rebound to once again be an engine of growth in the global economy. O'Neill told a gathering of the Coalition of Service Industries that while a correction in the U.S. economy is underway in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he believes the fundamentals are there for a swift recovery. He cited new data on air travel, as well as pointing to recent retail sales and auto sales figures. "I have absolute confidence that our economy has the underpining to be the engine of economic growth for the whole world that we need to be," O'Neill said. "We've been going through a correction period, in a very long time ... but we are going to be fine because we don't know how to be anything else," he said. The Treasury Secretary said the swift fiscal stimulus designed by the White House and quickly enacted by Congress has done much to address the short-term shocks from the September 11 attacks, particularly in the airline sector. "We are for sure beginning to see a recovery in air travel," O'Neill said. "The data that I saw tonight - that I get on a daily basis - shows that we're about back at 75% of the passengers flying that we were at a year ago," he said. O'Neill added such a development has important "collateral carrying power" for the hotel, restaurants, and car rental businesses that depend upon travel and tourism for much of their business.

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