Overall US financial bailout costs look cheap compared to past crises, with the final net cost of US Treasury rescue efforts likely under $25 billion, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday. Geithner told bailout overseers that the Treasury expects to earn a profit on its remaining support for banks, automakers, credit markets and American International Group as part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, although it would likely lose money on its housing support programs.
The overall direct cost of all of the government's financial rescue efforts, including more than $150 billion to cover losses at mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will be less than 1 percent of US gross domestic product, Geithner said. "The overall costs will be incredibly small in comparison to almost any experience we can look at in the United States or around the world," he told the Congressional Oversight Panel.
Asked about a new Congressional Budget Office estimate that the TARP's net cost will be as low as $25 billion, Geithner said: "I suspect that number will be too high". The expected cost of TARP - just one component of US crisis support worth trillions of dollars - has declined dramatically. The CBO initially expected the government to take a $350 billion hit on TARP. Treasury's most recent estimate was for about $30 billion, after all investments in AIG are sold.
The less-than 1 percent estimate for all government support compares to about 2.4 percent of GDP spent to deal with the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 90s, according to the Government Accountability Office. Geithner's testimony came a day after the Treasury collected another $2.1 billion from its $49.5 billion bailout investment in General Motors Co and is preparing to begin selling shares in AIG next year.
NEW FINANCIAL RULES: His testimony also came amid a busy week for regulators in proposing new rules to enforce the Dodd-Frank financial reform law - a byproduct of the financial crisis aimed at curbing risk-taking in the financial sector and protecting consumers.
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