U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow plans to announce his departure from the Bush administration by mid-June, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The paper quoted U.S. government officials and people close to Snow as saying that Snow has signaled to the White House that he is ready to resign once President Georgia W. Bush has picked a successor.

They said Snow has made clear he eventually intends to return to the private sector. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Snow is not ready to discuss his plans publicly.

However, Snow is still planning to attend a Group of Eight (G8) meeting of finance ministers scheduled for June 9-10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

U.S. Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto declined to comment on Snow's future. "I don't speculate on personnel matters, " he said on Thursday.

The 66-year-old Snow, a former chairman and CEO of CSX Corp., replaced Paul O'Neill and took over U.S. Treasury Department in February 2003.

Source: Xinhua