Morgan Stanley's Roach Says Bailout Plan Will Help Stop Panic

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Treasury Department's $700 billion bailout plan will go ``a long way'' towards curbing the panic in markets, said Stephen Roach, chairman and acting chief executive of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong.

``This plan is going to get through, and that will go a long way in at least stopping the panic phase of this crisis,'' Roach said in an interview today with Bloomberg Radio from Beijing.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday that the U.S. economy will shrink if markets don't begin functioning normally. He joined Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in urging skeptical lawmakers to quickly pass the rescue plan for financial institutions.

``We still have a lot of heavy lifting to go for the next several years,'' Roach said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Vivien Lou Chen in San Francisco at vchen1@bloomberg.net; Thomas R. Keene in New York at tkeene@bloomberg.net