Ottawa: The US economy is over the hump and heading for real growth of 3.0-3.5 per cent as soon as the last quarter of 2002, US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said.

"We agreed that we must continue to bolster economic growth in our economies for the good of our own citizens and the people of the world," he said in a statement after a two-day meeting of Group of Seven policymakers on February 9.

"For our part, the United States has put the worst part of the economic slowdown behind us," he added.

"We see more signs every day indicating that a recovery is underway and I believe we will return to prosperous real economic growth rate of 3.0-3.5 per cent as soon as the fourth quarter of this year."

O'Neill said the US-led effort to choke off terrorist financing networks was an example of global co-operation.

"An example of a good conversation we have had is terrorist financing," he said. "We need to keep going. We need to raise the bar of expectations of what it is we expect to accomplish."

To date, 149 countries had issued orders to freeze terrorist assets and more than $ 104 million had been blocked since September 11, O'Neill said.