WASHINGTON, Oct 5: US President Barack Obama assured a jittery world on Saturday that America would not default on its foreign obligations despite almost a weeklong government shutdown.

The US Department of Treasury warned earlier this week that America could default if Congress did not raise the country’s debt ceiling by Oct 17.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr Obama said he believed the House and Senate would approve a bill that would enable the US to meet its obligations.

And Mr Obama’s chief diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, assured US allies that the government shutdown would not affect America’s foreign engagements.

But US foreign policy experts pointed out that the dispute had already hurt the US image, presenting it as a nation where political parties could go to any length to score points.

“It affects our credibility because we are, in many ways, the irreplaceable country in the world because of our power, and countries expect us to be fully engaged on a day-by-day basis,” said former Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns.

“You can’t take weekends off. You can’t take holidays,” he told the NPR radio network.

Similarly, more than a dozen economists told CNN that taking America too close to the Oct 17 deadline would have unsettling effects on the international market.

Addressing such concerns, Mr Obama said: “And I’m pretty willing to bet that there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now to make sure that the United States doesn’t end up being a deadbeat.”

His rival Republicans, who control the House, also have sent similar signals, telling reporters that they are working quietly on a bill to prevent the default.

Moderate Republicans hope that they will be able to get this resolution adopted with support from the Democrats who back President Obama, also a Democrat, in this dispute.

The Republicans, however, were still adamant to de-fund the president’s health package which seeks to provide insurance coverage to millions of uninsured, working class Americans.

Mr Obama said that these working class Americans “definitely shouldn’t give up” on the healthcare programme, which, he promised, would survive the Republican onslaught.

Also on Saturday, the House unanimously passed a piece of legislation to retroactively pay 800,000 furloughed federal employees once the government reopened.

But Republican and Democratic members of the House remained divided over ending the shutdown, which was in its fifth day on Saturday.