LISBON - The meltdown of the U.S. subprime lending market that has triggered a global credit squeeze is largely over, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday.

`The worst is over,'' he said at a meeting with local businessmen.

Nevertheless, the U.S. economy is likely to suffer continued fallout from its weak housing market, he said. Economic growth in the U.S. is likely to slow in coming months, a trend that would ``bottom out in early 2008,'' Greenspan said.