PHUKET (Thailand), Sept 4: US Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Thursday positive US economic results were expected in the months ahead, while he also assessed Asia-Pacific economies as being in a “pretty good situation”.

“We’re looking for much more positive results in the US economy in the months and quarters ahead,” Snow told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum of finance ministers here.

“It has been sluggish for a couple of years. (News of the improving US economy) has been greeted well by the other finance ministers who of course recognize that just as their success helps the US, our results help theirs as well,” he said.

Snow’s upbeat assessment comes a day after the Beige Book survey, released eight times a year, found that a long-awaited US economic recovery was gathering speed.

Snow’s rosy revelation was bolstered by assessments by Australian Treasurer Peter Costello.

“It’s good for the regime that the US economy is starting to recover,” Costello told reporters at the conclusion of the first of two days of talks here.

He also said he continued to hold “cautious optimism about the global situation.”

Snow too was positive on the region’s economies, despite them being hit by the Sars crisis earlier this year and now fallout from the terrorism fears gripping much of the region.

Many are successfully clawing their way out of the disastrous 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

“The economies in the region seem to be in a pretty good situation,” Snow said.

Meanwhile, US Labour Department said businesses productivity was boosted at a stunning 6.8 per cent annual pace in the second quarter, stirring hopes for a rapid recovery but giving few crumbs to job hunters.

Productivity — a driving force that largely determines the maximum speed of the economy — came in far stronger than even the first estimate of a sizzling 5.7 per cent expansion in the quarter.

It was the biggest productivity boost in 15 months.—AFP