WASHINGTON - The credit crisis that has scorched international financial markets is on the wane but more shocks are ahead, US Secretary Treasury Henry Paulson told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Wednesday.

"The worst is likely to be behind us," Paulson told the paper, in one of the most optomistic comments by a top US finance official since sub-prime mortgage losses set a domino effect in motion in mid 2007.

Paulson said it would take "some months longer" for the situation to stabilize and cautioned there would likely be further "bumps along the road."

But, he said, "there's no doubt that things feel better today, by a lot, than they did in March."

Paulson said the decision by the US Federal Reserve to rescue US investment giant Stearns and to inject liquidity into other investment banks proved to be a turning or "inflection point" in the crisis.

He expressed confidence that Congress would soon approve two measures he sees as key to stabilizing markets, to improve regulation of government-sponsored mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Agency, which insures private housing loans.