Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday that the current U.S. economic downturn is "likely temporary."

"The economy is obviously going through a significant slowing period, which as best I can tell is more than likely temporary," Greenspan said at the annual Charles Schwab Impact conference in Washington.

About the cooling housing market, to which the current economic downturn has largely been attributed, Greenspan said that it is not out of the woods yet but the worst of the slump is likely past.

"I think that while we are past most of it there are a lot of negatives ... but it is no longer subtracting from the (gross domestic product) growth," he said.

The former Fed chairman also talked about the need for overhauling Social Security and Medicare.

But he warned that the problem cannot be fixed solely with higher taxes, and would require some significant reworking of the benefits programs themselves.

Greenspan, 80, retired early this year after having leaded the central bank for more than 18 years.