Freddie chief says will not need rescue lifeline

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac should not need to reach for a government lifeline that would inject billions of dollars into the struggling mortgage-finance company, its chief executive officer said on Wednesday.

"We don't anticipate using it," Richard Syron said on

CNBC.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve promised to give Freddie Mac and its sibling Fannie Mae aid if they were near collapse.

If the national economy were to suffer to the degree it did during the Great Depression of the 1930s, "it might be possible that we might have to use those facilities," Syron said. "We don't expect that, in any case."

If the broader economy does not take a serious dip in the next few months, a housing recovery is possible next year, he added.

"I think it will be well, well into 2009 before we have gotten most of this and I would say that is dependent on our having a relatively healthy economy," Syron said.

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker, editing by Dan Grebler)