Obama Dismisses Double-Dip Fears

The AFP news agency reports:

U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday dismissed fears of a plunge into a "double-dip" recession and warned against "panic" over dismal economic data that is beginning to cloud his reelection hopes.

In a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama responded to signs the recovery may be slowing and sought to assure "skittish and nervous" investors and voters that better times lay ahead.

"I am not concerned about a double-dip recession," Obama said, empathizing with people who were frustrated that growth had not been unleashed more quickly.

"I'm concerned that the recovery we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as I wanted to happen," he said, adding there was "enormous work to do" to strengthen the recovery after the worst recession in decades.

As Republicans fire up their race for the party White House nomination and lambast Obama's economic policies as a failure, the president recalled that the world came close to a "complete disaster" back in 2009-2010.

"Recovering from that kind of body-blow takes time," Obama said, admitting that in recent weeks the economy had faced strong "headwinds."

"Recovery is going to be uneven. There are going to be times where we are making progress, but people are still skittish and nervous, and the markets get skittish and nervous."

"Our task is not to panic, not overreact, to make sure that we've got a plan, a path forward," he said, noting the need to tend to structural issues and fundamentals that would promote growth and a sound business environment."