U.S. President Barack Obama Monday night said the U.S. economy will recover next year if right steps were taken now.

In the first prime time news conference of his presidency, Obama said the 2009 will be a difficult year, but adding that he's hoping to start seeing significant improvement in the economy early next year.

Businesses will be able to start investing again, and that consumers will feel confident enough in the stability of their jobs that they will start making purchases next year, he said, however acknowledged that the credit crisis is still "real and not over."

Obama administration postponed details of a 350 billion dollar bank bailout plan to forces lawmakers to focus first on passing the stimulus package.

At the conference, Obama admitted that he did not know whether the government might need more than the remaining 350 billion dollar of bailout funds to restore the ailing U.S. financial system.

"We don't know yet whether we're going to need additional money or how much additional money we'll need until we see how successful we are at restoring a level of confidence in the marketplace," Obama said.

"We are going to have to work with the banks in an effective way to clean up their balance sheets so some trust is restored in the marketplace," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)