Geithner urges growth at G20 meeting

TORONTO, June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Saturday said the G20 meetings in Toronto "must be fundamentally about growth."

Geithner said national economies are coming out of the economic crisis "at different speeds" and "the scars of this crisis are still with us."

"So this summit must be fundamentally about growth, and our challenge as the G20 is to act together to strengthen the prospects for growth," he said. "This will require different strategies in different countries."

Geithner said economic policy should avoid mistakes from past recoveries -- including retreating too soon from policies designed to stimulate growth.

"And (what) we want to do is continue to emphasize that we are going avoid that mistake by making sure we recognize that it's only been a year since the world economy stopped collapsing -- it's only been a year of positive growth in the United States; some countries started growing much, much more recently," he said.

Geithner noted the persistence of high unemployment and an excess of capacity in factories globally.

"We are still living with the deep scars of this crisis, and it's going to take some time to heal those," he said. "And I think we have to recognize that our capacity to make sure that we are growing in the future and that we are moving our fiscal positions back to a sustainable balance depends on our success in definitively repairing the damage caused by the crisis."

Amid growing calls for greater emphasis on deficit reduction in the United States, Geithner said the Obama administration is already taking steps in that direction.

"(President Barack Obama) has outlined actions to reduce our future deficits -- as recovery strengthens, to reduce those deficits to a sustainable position so that they do not harm future economic growth," he said.