It will be months not years for the US economy to be back on track: Top US official
Washington, Apr 19 () US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said that it will be months not years for the US economy, which has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, to be back on track.
The country's economy has been ravaged by the challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis. More than 22 million people have lost their jobs, as the heavy job creating sectors like travel and tourism has come to a standstill.
Over 95 per cent of the country's 330 million population are under a stay-at-home order.
The deadly virus has killed more than 39,000 people and infected over 740,000 in the US, which has the highest number of COVID-19 casualties in the world.
The Trump Administration has brought in a stimulus package worth USD 2 trillion to boost the economy.
However, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank say that the American economy is in a recession.
Mnuchin exuded confidence that the economy would soon be back on track in a matter of months.
"I think it will be months. I definitely don't think it will be years," Mnuchin said on asked if it will be months or years before the economy is back to the strong position it was before the pandemic.
Mnuchin made the remarks during his appearance at the CNN's State of the Union talk show.
"We are going to conquer this virus. We are going to have terrific breakthroughs, I know, both not just on the testing, but on the medical front. We begin to have vaccines. I think there's things that are being developed for vaccines, which will take a little bit longer," he said.
"But one of the things we heard is, people want testing. People also will react very positively that they know, if they get this disease, there will be medical treatments available as well," he said.
US President Donald Trump this week unveiled a three-phase plan to reopen the world's largest economy that allows governors to gradually ease the crippling lockdown in their states.
Asserting that a prolonged lockdown, combined with a forced economic depression, would inflict an immense and wide-ranging toll on public health, Trump said that his administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased approach to reopening their individual states. LKJ RS RS