The dollar will remain the main reserve currency

Here is the transcript of the chat held yesterday afternoon in the premises of the "voices" with us Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner. The issues of Internet users have been selected by writing among the very many received.

The Federal Reserve confirmed Wednesday a rebound of the US economy in the second half of this year. Do you think quela recession will take finau third quarter

The consensus of private economists will in this sense, but our task is to ensure that sufficient efforts are made by all countries around the world, for that growth to come back.

Are you considering a second recovery plan in the United States Should accelerate the implementation of the current stimulus package

I do not think that we are in position, today, to wear such a judgment. The recovery plan has been designed to stimulate activity over a period of two years and its the most significant impact on the investment will intervene in the second half of this year.

What are the three or four low points in your economies world américaineet yeuxdes

The largest source of weakness was in the parts of the world where there has been a very rapid growth of credit and real estate prices as well as a debt in the financial system. Recovery have solid foundations, should the adjustment process to go to the end. There are still serious challenges to be addressed, especially in some countries of Eastern Europe. The strength of the economic policies implemented in the world, however, is that they contribute to give a judgment in the wave of the global recession.

How do you consider the European economic recovery efforts

They have been quite substantial so far. The challenge we all face is to make it sufficiently. This will require a continuous effort of repair of the financial system and application support.

That answer you in China, which is concerned about the value of the dollar and insists on the need for a new global reserve currency The American authorities should not do more to support their currency

We favour a dollar strong. The dollar will remain the main reserve currency. The role of the dollar in the international financial system gives a special us responsibility, to maintain confidence in our financial system, reduce our deficit when the recovery will be on track, and reinforce the positive results of the Fed's price stability.

Inflation is a major risk for the US economy in the annéesà come

Without going into details of the policy of the Fed, that I do not wish to comment on, I am confident in the fact that it will be able to ensure that inflation remains low and stable. However, the overriding objective of economic policy is to restore growth at the global level.

What do you do that US banks are not excessively prudent

During recessions, the main danger is that banks and investors take too little risk. The only effective way to avoid this is to support private demand and to ensure that more capital flows in the parts of the financial system that have the greatest need.

Goldman Sachs recently announced its intention to pay once again significant bonuses to employees in the late year. How do you react Does this mean that it is impossible to limiterles bonus

We see very significant signs of recovery and stabilization of the US financial system, which is essential for the recovery of the economy. But it is important to work with Congress to put in place a comprehensive reform of the financial system, ensure the most effective protections for consumers and build a more stable financial system. This implies changing the compensation practices to make them more consistent with the risks. We do not want to see a return to the system of practices that helped cause this crisis.

In hindsight, would you have acted differently today to deal with the crisis

In General, with hindsight, the United States and the world should act as quickly as possible the year last to support the application when the crisis intensified. But I think that the responses in terms of economic policy have been effective so far to stem the collapse of confidence and economic activity. The best indicator of this is the amount of capital that was around in the US financial system, in the improvement of risk premiums and differences in interest rates and in the beginning of improving confidence of households and businesses.

How can you ensure that there will be more banks considered "too important and too interconnected to fail" after this crisis

I do not think that we have the ability to tell the world that we can prevent any future financial crisis. What we can do is to ensure that they are less severe and that, while continuing to enjoy the benefits of innovation, we get a system more stable, less vulnerable to crises, and in which Governments can contain the effects of the latter. This is our duty. This requires not only reforms in the United States. It must be that we get the rest of the world that he put in place also measures to safeguard against excessive risk taken.

Do you think that it should submit Bank "stress tests européennesà "

It is the European judging authorities. But one of the major benefits of what we did in the United States is to have a lot of information on the balance sheets of banks. In choosing hypotheses of latent losses with caution, we have forced the markets and the banks to look towards the future. And the markets could make the difference more easily. This has also allowed an injection of capital in the banking system much earlier, and on a wider scale than what we thought. With these measures, about $ 70 billion was reimbursed to the Treasury. Therefore I think that this has been an effective strategy for the United States, but each Government will have to make his own choices.

Have you tried to convince Christine Lagarde of mettreen place "stress tests"What else did you speak today

We mainly discussed a wide range of strategies to implement our reform plan. We are working very closely with the French in the g-20 and the IMF.