Geithner urges global effort to tamp crisis

By Glenn Somerville and Corbett Daly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States bears "substantial" blame for the woes besetting the world economy but it will take a global effort to ease those strains, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, Geithner said it was essential to find a better-balanced model for world growth that relies less on U.S. consumers as economies bid to climb out of the steepest downturn in decades.

"We must set ourselves on a path so that one country, or group of countries, does not consume in excess while another set of countries produces in excess," he said.

Geithner's remarks are part of a concerted campaign by the Obama administration to push developing countries to stimulate domestic demand and cut reliance on exports for growth.

U.S. President Barack Obama stressed the same theme at a meeting of the Group of 20 rich and emerging economies in London this month.

Geithner will repeat the message on Friday when he hosts a meeting of G20 officials after a regular gathering of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven major industrial powers.

SPENDING CONTROL COMING

Geithner stressed that the United States is prepared to incur budget deficits now to spur economic activity but said it would get spending under control once the crisis ends.