Bernanke pegs 2010 as 'year of recovery'

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy has a "reasonable" chance of recovery in 2010.

In a prepared statement for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Bernanke said "downside risks probably outweigh those on the upside." However, he said, given economic interventions take hold, "there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery."

The first step, however, is to "break the adverse feedback loop … in which weakening economic and financial conditions become mutually reinforcing," he said.

Bernanke stressed the recovery hinged on interventions working. A 2010 recovery balances on the "actions taken by the administration, the Congress and the Federal Reserve," he said.

In addition, "a full recovery of the economy from the current recession is likely to take two or three years," he said.