US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said today that the Obama administration's new jobs bill, if passed by Congress, would have a substantial positive impact on the US economy.

"If Congress were to act on this bill, it would have a substantial powerful effect on strengthening the economy that has slowed quite a bit and that would translate into jobs for hundreds of thousands of American workers at a time when we need that," Mr Geithner told National Public Radio in a telephone interview.

Speaking from Marseille, France, where he is participating in a meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers, Geithner also said that the administration did not need an act of Congress for new initiatives to boost refinancings of federally supported home mortgages.

Although US mortgage rates are at historically low levels, many homeowners cannot refinance because their property values have declined.

Mr Geithner said federal housing regulators have shown support for more refinancings and more details on how the refinancings would work would be announced in the next three weeks.

Mr Geithner also said he was confident that the jobs bill would not increase long-term deficits, because the new tax cut and spending measures would be linked to long-term budget savings measures.

Reuters