Economists predict increased growth for US economy
August 15, 2005
According to a survey released on Monday by the Bank of Philadelphia, private sector economists have raised their estimate of how much the US economy will grow in 2005 from their predictions of three months ago.
Previously the economists surveyed felt that the gross domestic product would grow by 3.4 percent this year, but the new survey has them predicting GDP growth of 3.7 percent for the year.
In addition the economists surveyed believe that the GDP will grow by 3.4 percent in 2006; three months ago they said they thought the 2006 GDP would grow by 3.3 percent. The predictions for employment were better in this quarter’s Survey of Professional Forecasters as well, while the economists believe that inflation will be higher for the year than they thought it would be three months ago.
When asked about employment, the economists thought three months ago that the unemployment rate would be 5.2 percent for the year, while in the new survey they said it would be at 5.1 percent. However, those economists surveyed now feel that consumer price inflation will come in at 2.9 percent for 2005, while three months ago they thought inflation would stop at 2.6 percent on the year.