US economy to bounce back soon, says Treasury Secretary

America's ecomy, hit hard by coronavirus pandemic, is likely to bounce back in third and fourth quarter and is going to have a great 2021, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.

As a result of coronavirus pandemic that has claimed nearly 80,000 American lives in last two months and infected over thirteen lakh ors, US ecomy has come to a standstill.

"This is fault of American business. This is t fault of American workers. This is a result of a virus. And that's why president and I were determined to put toger largest ecomic program ever to help American workers get through this,” Mnuchin told Fox News.

More than 33 million Americans have lost ir job in last two months. entire travel and tourism industry has collapsed. Manufacturing has come to a standstill and offices have closed down. unemployment rate is at an all time high, worse than Great Depression of 1930s.

" reported numbers are probably going to get worse before y get better, but that's why we're focused on rebuilding this ecomy. We'll have a better third quarter. We'll have a better fourth quarter. And next year is going to be a great year,” Mnuchin said in response to a question.

At same time, Mnuchin said that ecomic numbers aren't rosy. “What I've said is you're going to have a very, very b second quarter and n I think you're going to see a bounce back from a low standpoint. ne of ecomic models have ever worked in predicting what happens when you close down due to medical reasons,” he said.

Mnuchin said that his predictions are based upon what he sees is rate of reopening in a careful way.

“It's also based upon my views and I've personally heard from many of doctors that have vaccines in trials and ir expectations of being able to get a vaccine by end of this year and having real viral treatments... All se things are going to help give American business and American workers confidence to reopen in a careful and a deliberate way,” he said.

Mnuchin said, “If we do this carefully, I don’t think re is a considerable risk. Businesses will be able to reopen. This is all being monitored very carefully.”

A lot of businesses can do telework. t everybody has to come back into office at same time. But people will be able to go into stores, some of m will have reservations when y go in, but businesses will be able to reopen, he said.

“Certain parts of country h very devastating impacts, like New York, and certain parts of country didn't. And this is all being monitored very, very carefully,” he ded.

(im credit: AP)