国际英语新闻：Greenspan says "double dip" possible if home prices go down

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday that economic recession might come back if the housing market deteriorates.

U.S. economic recovery has lost momentum as indicated by a host of key economic indicators, including the worse-than-expected GDP figure released Friday. This upgraded the already-heated debate on whether the U.S. economy will slip to another downturn, or the so- called "double-dip" recession.

"It is possible if home prices go down. Home prices, as best we can judge, have really flattened out in the last year," Greenspan said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, testifies before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington April 7 , 2010.

"We're in a pause in a recovery, a modest recovery, but a pause in the modest recovery feels like a quasi-recession," he added.

U.S. economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter of this year, a deceleration from an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and 5.0 percent in the last three months of 2009, according to the preliminary estimate by the Commerce Department.