WORLD> America
Paulson says won't stay at Treasury past January
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-11 10:34

On Friday, Fannie Mae posted a $2.3 billion loss and cut its dividend. Paulson said that loss was not surprising given the state of the housing market and did not change his view that the companies would probably not need government cash.

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"We have no plans to insert money in either of those institutions," he said in the NBC interview. "It was very important that we get these temporary backup facilities because Fannie and Freddie are very important to our capital markets."

Paulson said it would be well beyond the end of 2008 before the housing problems were resolved. Until that happened, the financial markets and the economy would remain strained, he said.

He dismissed the idea that the US economy needed another round of economic stimulus after a $152 billion package passed earlier this year gave tax rebates to millions of households and incentives to businesses.

"Let's see how this program works in the third quarter," Paulson said, noting that the stimulus package succeeded in supporting growth in the second quarter, which ended in June.

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