CRAWFORD, July 19: President George W. Bush predicted on Saturday that tax cuts would provide the kind of lift to the struggling US economy that would lead to job creation.

While the White House is hopeful for faster economic growth in the coming year and a half, the stubbornly high 6.4 percent US unemployment rate remains a drag on the economy and threatens to complicate Bush’s bid for re-election in 2004.

Now that Americans can keep more of what they earn, we can expect to see rising demand for goods and services. And as demand increases, companies will need more workers to meet it, Bush said in his weekly radio address.

The US Treasury next week will begin printing and mailing more than 25 million child tax credit checks worth $12 billion, part of the recently enacted Jobs and Growth Act that increased the child tax credit from $600 to $1,000 per child for qualifying families.—Reuters