MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bush promises a “tough” budget

United States president George Bush promised a tough federal budget next February in an attempt to halve the country's deficit in five years.

The accumulated "twin" deficits, budget and current account, have forced the US dollar to new record lows against the Euro, in spite of the repeated promises of the Bush administration support to a "strong dollar".

The federal budget reached 412 billion US dollars in the twelve months to September 30 and 277 billion US dollars in 2003.

President Bush indicated there would be "strict discipline" on non defense spending in the coming budget.

"We will submit a budget that fits the times", said President Bush adding that "it will provide every tool and resource to the military; we will protect the homeland, and meet the other priorities of the government".

The US dollar's weakness has hit European and Asian exporters who have called for Central Banks intervention to boost the US currency.

However, the weak dollar has also helped countries with strong currencies face the soaring price of oil.

President Bush has argued that the best way to halt the decline of the US dollar is to address the budget deficit.

"It's a budget that I think will send the right signal to financial markets and those concerned about our short term deficits", underlined Mr. Bush.

But in spite of President Bush's strong statement, in European markets the Euro kept advancing closing at 1,3394 US dollars.