Geithner promises to defend dollar

“The force of the global recession is receding,” Mr Geithner said in a speech in Jeddah, a commercial port in western Saudi Arabia. ”The process of repair and recovery is going to take considerably more time. It seems realistic to expect a gradual recovery, with more than the usual ups and down and temporary reversals.”

He said Saudi Arabia would have an “important voice in building cooperation on a more robust framework for the prevention of future crises.”

”The policies of the United States are designed to lay the conditions for a strong dollar,” he said. ”We are very committed ... to making sure that as we get through the crisis, we bring down fiscal deficits and we reverse these extraordinary interventions we’ve taken.”