NEW YORK: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Thursday that he would seek a third term as mayor, a move which would require overturning the city's term limitations law.

A third four-year term would keep the billionaire mayor in office to the end of 2013.

New York voters twice rejected the idea of removing term limits in the 1990s, so Bloomberg would have to make the legal change through the City Council.

"Should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide," Bloomberg said at a press conference.

Bloomberg, 66, said that the financial crisis rattling the country demands that someone with his experience remain in charge of the capital of US finance.

"This is not the time for fantasy. It is not a magic bullet," said Bloomberg.

"It will up to the people to decide, not me."

A Wall Street trader who made a fortune after starting a financial data and news company, Bloomberg was first elected in 2001 and oversaw the economic revival of the city following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The crisis on Wall Street presents New York, with a population of more than eight million people, with an uncertain economic outlook, given that the city relies heavily on revenues raised from the financial sector.

The mayor is also famous for banning smoking in restaurants and bars, and for forcing some food outlets to label calorie counts.

Earlier in the year Bloomberg flirted with the idea of running for president as an independent candidate. - AFP/de