A White House economic panel last night predicted a gradually accelerating US economic recovery this year but pointed to the need of enhancing homeland security, removing trade barriers and fixing the nation's retirement system to ensure long-term prosperity.
The Council of Economic Advisers' analysis and recommendations were presented in its 441-page annual economic report to President George W Bush, who forwarded it the US Congress.
In a letter to lawmakers, Mr Bush said US economic growth has been "unacceptably slow," and urged them to develop an agenda for strengthening the nation's economic security.
"Our vision must extend beyond America, engaging other countries in the virtuous cycle of free trade, raising the potential for global growth, and securing the gains from worldwide markets in goods and capital," the president wrote.
The council predicted that, following a string of interest rate cuts and a tax-reduction package signed into law last year, the US was poised to return to real gross domestic product growth early this year, reaching an annual GDP growth rate of 2.7 per cent by the end of 2002.