Bill Gates sees no US recession

ROME: Microsoft boss Bill Gates said on Tuesday he did not think the US
economy would hit a recession in the formal definition of the term but the
slowdown could be deeper than some economists expect.

"I am not sure the US economy in the next 10 years will be as strong as
it has been. It will go through a cycle. I think this cycle will be longer and
deeper than others have predicted. But that does not mean it will not swing
back," Gates told Italian entrepreneurs at a debate on the "Net
economy".

"I don't think it will come to a recession in its formal
definition," he said.

The formal definition of economic recession is two consecutive quarters of
negative growth.

Gates said he believed the slowdown was partly due to a decrease in capital
spending - one of the motors of US growth over the past decade - which
businesses quickly cut short at the first signs of growth slowing.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.