Washington, D.C. ? The White House’s top budget official declared on Sunday that “fundamentally, the economy is weak” while saying the administration’s own financial predictions could need a revision by midyear.

Peter Orszag, President Barack Obama’s Office of Management and Budget director, said in television interviews that the economic downturn has been years in the making but cautioned that the new administration wasn’t yet looking at a second economic stimulus package. Orszag said the already-in-place $787 billion stimulus should have a chance to work before officials ask Congress to consider a sequel.

Obama’s budget assumes the economy will grow at about 3.2 percent. Given climbing unemployment, shrinking credit and a general frustration over a crumbling economy, that now seems unrealistic.