Warren Buffett said on Wednesday that the US economy has "no bounce" and will take time to recover, but there is no risk of deflation to push it further into despair.

Speaking on ‘CNBC’ television, the world's second-richest person also praised efforts by the Obama administration and Federal Reserve to jump-start economic activity.

He lamented that the slowdown has hurt his insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which runs close to 80 businesses and in the January-to-March period had its first quarterly loss since 2001.

"We have had no bounce" in the economy, Buffett said on ‘CNBC’ television in New York. "There are a lot of excesses to be wrung out, and that process is still under way, and it looks to me it will be under way for quite a while."

Asked whether the economy was still in a "shambles," as he had said in February, Buffett said: "I'm afraid that's true."

US gross domestic product fell at a 5.7 per cent annualized rate in the first quarter.

Government efforts to stimulate business activity remain a work in progress, and President Barack Obama on Tuesday again said the nation's jobless rate will rise above 10 per cent.

"They're doing things, but they take a while to have an effect," Buffett said. "You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

Yet he added that "I don't worry about deflation at all," and maintained his long faith in the stock market, saying it is "attractive over the next 10 years" relative to alternatives.

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