Obama names economic team

This news updete by geo.tv







WASHINGTON: US president-elect Barack Obama pledged Monday to work with global leaders to fix the ever-widening financial crisis, as Washington and Britain worked to shore up their ailing economies.

"The reality is that the economic crisis we face is no longer just an American crisis, it is a global crisis -- and we will need to reach out to countries around the world to craft a global response," Obama said, unveiling his economic team for his administration, which begins January 20.

Obama confirmed the well-traveled Timothy Geithner as his nominee for Treasury secretary, and the internationally respected former Treasury boss Larry Summers as his top economic adviser in the White House.

In a new development underlining the ongoing woes of the financial sector, Citigroup, once the world's biggest banking group, was given a new 20-billion-dollar capital injection lifeline from the US government.

The rescue plan announced late Sunday also saw the government offer guarantees for 306 billion dollars of Citigroup debt, as well as injecting more capital into the struggling bank after a previous 25-billion-dollar infusion.

Citigroup's shares had slumped last week over fears it could follow other banks into the financial void, but surged when trading opened on Monday.

In Britain, finance minister Alistair Darling, who forecast a sharp economic contraction in 2009, launched a tax and spending plan worth 20 billion pounds (23 billion euros, 30 billion dollars).

"We need action now to boost economic activity to help us emerge quicker and emerge stronger from these difficult times," Darling told lawmakers. An increasing number of countries are devising stimulus packages to boost their businesses and consumers.



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