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In a bid to kick-start the US economy, along with his party's political fortunes, Barack Obama, the US president, has unveiled a series of new economic measures aimed at helping businesses and creating more jobs.

In a speech in Cleveland, Ohio, an area hit hard by the recession with an unemployment rate of 10.3 per cent, Obama said he wants to introduce new tax breaks that would allow businesses to write off 100 per cent of new capital investments through 2011.

Al Jazeera's John Terrett said that Obama's announcement on Wednesday is part of a larger programme by the president.

"On Monday, he announced $50bn for infrastructure building including roads, bridges, airport runways and things like that," our correspondent said.

"Now today he is adding another $300bn [including] $100bn in tax credits for businesses who carry out research and development in the United States and $200bn [in tax breaks] for all American companies, corporations and small businesses, so as they buy new computer systems or build new buildings, they can write off the tax," he said.