Paulson: protectionism no answer to financial crisis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned on Sunday that countries that turn to protectionist policies to try to escape damage from the global financial crisis may make it worse.

"Isolationism and protectionism will not offer a way out," Paulson said in a statement prepared for delivery to the World Bank's development committee.

"Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flows of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis," he added.

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville; Editing by Andrea Ricci)