US TREASURY Secretary Timothy Geithner has told President Barack Obama that he is considering stepping down soon after policy makers agree to raise the government's borrowing limit, a person familiar with the matter said.No decision has been made and Mr Obama could ask Mr Geithner to stay. But Mr Geithner's family is moving to New York from Washington in coming months and he is expected to join them, and he has mused publicly and privately in recent weeks about leaving Treasury.
He said overnight that he is "going to be commuting for awhile (from New York to Washington), but I'm going to be doing this for the foreseeable future."
Mr Geithner, 49, is one of Mr Obama's closest advisers and played a central role in all of the White House's biggest economic initiatives, including managing the financial crisis, passing the stimulus bill, overhauling financial regulation, and most recently pushing to increase the debt ceiling.