US President George W. Bush denied Tuesday that the US economy was in recession or would go into one despite a spate of downcast reports and gloomy indicators.
"We're not in a recession, I don't think we will go in a recession. We're in a slowdown, and there's a difference," Bush said in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks. "No question there is softening now."
The US president boasted of job growth since he took office in January 2001 but acknowledged that "economies go through cycles, and the question is how do you deal with the down-cycle."
"I am confident in our economy," he said.
"Think about what we've been through since I've been president, recession, an attack, corporate scandals, major natural disasters, high oil prices, war and yet we had 52 months of uninterrupted growth and that speaks volumes about the American people and resilience," he said.
His comments came after the Conference Board private research group said its consumer confidence index had slumped to its lowest level since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The survey was likely to provide fresh ammunition to some economists who are predicting that the world's biggest economy is on the verge of a recession. Other economists believe the economy has already fallen into a recession.
Economic growth slowed abruptly to a 0.6 percent annualized crawl in the fourth quarter of 2007 amid a two-year long housing slump and as a credit crunch swept the financial markets.
The Federal Reserve has attempted to ride to the rescue by slashing borrowing costs in a bid to avert a recession, while Bush has approved a giant 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus plan aimed at re-igniting economic momentum.
