Economy growing slowly but no recession: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is growing at a slow pace but it is not in a recession, White House economic adviser Edward Lazear said on Wednesday.

"The first quarter of 2008 was not a good period for the U.S. economy," the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers said in remarks before the Hudson Institute.

"The economy is still moving at a slow pace and the one good thing is that unemployment is low at 5 percent," he said, adding that credit tightening "has the potential" to hurt the economy.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)