3 March 1999

Latest Report on the Y2K Problem

The following information is excerpted from "The Journal of Commerce" issue of 3 March 1999.

At the opening of an international conference on the Y2K problem on 2 March, the chairman of the US President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, Mr. John Koskinen, told delegates that fears of a global recession are exaggerated.

"The consensus of economists in the US is that overall impact on the gross domestic product of the US will only be two-tenths or three-tenths of a per cent, and they saw no risk of a local or worldwide recession or depression resulting from this", he said. Mr. Koskinen also said that the American government is preparing contingency plans even though its agencies are now 79 per cent compliant. One of these plans is to print an additional $50 billion in cash, lest people stock up for fear automatic teller machines or credit card readers might fail.