Geithner repeats strong dollar in U.S. interest
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in an interview excerpted on Friday on CNN television, repeated his belief in a strong dollar and praised Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
CNN trickled out portions of a taped interview with Geithner that it will air on Sunday in which the U.S. Treasury chief said: "A strong dollar is in the interest of the United States."
Geithner ducked a question whether he wanted to see Bernanke reappointed when his term as Fed chairman ends next January but said Bernanke was doing "an exceptional job" at the head of the U.S. central bank.
"I think what the Fed did was not just essential but extraordinarily helpful in helping contain the risk, help slow, reduce the risk of a more catastrophic outcome," Geithner said, adding that Bernanke "deserves a lot of confidence."
CNN put out printed excerpts from the interview that will be seen over the weekend.
President Barack Obama will make the decision whether to renominate Bernanke for a second term as Fed chairman.
Geithner, who headed the New York Federal Reserve bank before taking over Treasury and has worked closely with Bernanke during the current financial crisis, will likely have a say in the matter.
On other issues, Geithner said he was not concerned about Chinese calls to consider changes in the global monetary system that were interpreted as an effort to dethrone the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency.
"You know, I don't actually worry about that...because if you look at the response of the world as we go through this period of time, when people are most concerned about risk, generally they want to be investing in the most liquid and safe market in the world, which is still the market for our Treasury bills," Geithner said.
(Reporting by Glenn Somerville; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
