NEW YORK, Aug 4 (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary John Snow said Wednesday record-high crude oil prices are an unwelcome tax on consumers but they will not derail the economy.
"This is most unwelcome news," Snow told CNBC television as New York's main light sweet crude contract simmered at 43.85 dollars a barrel after hitting a record 44.34 dollars.
"It acts like a tax on consumers, it takes money out of their pockets, it takes money that could be spent on other things away," he said during a visit to the New York Stock Exchange.
"It clearly is having an effect, it is slowing growth down," the treasury chief said.
"But we still have a strong, growing economy with a lot of headroom for continued growth and for a lot of job creation. So, while it is not helping, it is unwelcome, it is not going to derail the economy."
Snow pressed Congress to pass President George W. Bush's stalled energy bill, which seeks to expand US-based production, including by drilling in an Alaskan wildlife reserve.
"We would not be in this fix today if the Congress had acted," the treasury secretary said.
The economic outlook was bright, he said.
"I don't think the economy is slowing down at all," Snow said.
"I think there was a pause, as (Federal Reserve chairman) Alan Greenspan indicated, but we are already seeing July numbers that are much better on the consumer side."
Aggressive incentives pushed sales of new automobiles up 2.9 percent year over year in July after a lacklustre June, according to industry figures Tuesday.
And sales at major US retail chains rose moderately last week as parents forked over extra cash to equip children before they return to school, a survey showed Tuesday.
Sales rose 0.2 percent in the week ended July 31, following a 0.2 percent gain the previous week, a survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and UBS Warburg showed.
"Consumers are two-thirds of the economy and with consumers again getting into the stores and showrooms and so on, we are back on the path for a much stronger performance in the third quarter and the fourth quarter," Snow said.
The treasury secretary was in New York to boost financial workers' confidence after Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned at the weekend that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network may attack key financial centers, including the New York Stock Exchange.