US President George W. Bush asked Treasury Secretary John Snow on Wednesday to stay in the administration and Snow agreed, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Snow walked to the White House to have lunch with other members of the team and met with Bush, the spokesman said.

"The president is pleased Secretary Snow agreed to continue to serve," he said.

There have speculations that the President Bush might replace Snow as US Treasury Secretary and the decision to ask Snow to stay has kept a key member of Bush's economic team in place.

Snow, 65, was the former chief of railroad giant CSX and became the 73rd treasury secretary of the United States in February of last year. Snow has been a loyal foot soldier for Bush's economic policies in the past 22 months since replacing his predecessor Paul O'Neill and has aggressively championed the president's economic policies, notably big tax cuts, on Wall Street and Main Street.

Snow is one of the important member of President Bush's economic team to stay on his post. Two members of Bush's economic team, Commerce Secretary Donald Louis Evans and US director of National Economic Council Stephen Friedman, announced their resignation last month.

Source: Xinhua