US economy unlikely to slip back into recession: Buffet

The US economy is not likely to slip back into a recession, despite recent economic reports showing that its recovery had lost momentum,  says Warren Buffet.

Speaking at the 25th anniversary dinner of the Economic Club of Washington late yesterday, the billionaire investor said he saw the odds of a renewed recession as ''very low.''

Financial markets tumbled on a dismal May jobs report last week, which led economists to lower their forecasts for  the growth of the US economy this year.

However, even as he discounted the risk of a recession, Buffett said that all bets could be off if the financial crisis in Europe were to ''spill over in a big way.''

According to Buffet, European leaders needed to reconcile the ''half-in, half-out,'' nature of the euro zone. The 17 nations that used the euro shared a common central bank as also interest rate policies, but followed wildly different national tax and budget policies.

Buffett, who is the CEO of Omaha, Nebraska -based Berkshire Hathaway Inc, also reiterated his support for the so-called ''Buffett Rule,'' that  would require Americans with incomes over $1 million to pay a 30-per cent tax rate.