It’s hard to say just how bad the effect of the coronavirus outbreak will affect the economy but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is confident that the problem is short-term and will be resolved in a matter of months.
Mnuchin predicted that by the third quarter of 2020, Americans should see an economic recovery with production and employment levels back up.
During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Mnuchin said, “I don’t know what the numbers are gonna be this quarter. What I do think is, we are gonna kill this virus, We’re gonna re-open this economy. And in the third quarter of this year, you’re gonna see this economy bounce back with very large GDP numbers and low unemployment back to where we were beforehand.”
Host Chris Wallace asked about President Trump’s optimism over having the country “opened up by Easter,” Mnuchin said he would “leave that decision to the medical professionals and the president,” while he works on providing economic assistance.
Mnuchin is working on a program alongside the Small Business Administration that would provide forgivable loads. It should be up and running as soon as this Friday. He said, “I encourage all small businesses to take out these loans because if you hire back your workers for eight weeks, you’ll have a forgivable loan and the government will pay for that.”
When Mnuchin was asked about the risk of Americans returning to work too soon and continue spreading the virus, Mnuchin noted that “there hasn’t been any recommendation made yet” on when this might happen. He said, “the president wants to make sure that we kill this virus.”
He then added, “We are fully comfortable that whatever we do, we want full transparency and we’re very careful in what we’re doing about supporting American workers and the American economy.”
