A panel of 37 senior economists has trimmed its US economic growth forecast for this year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said today.
The forecasters tipped growth in gross domestic product (GDP) - or total economic output - of 2.5 per cent this year, just down from the 2.6 per cent forecast in the previous survey three months ago.
Making their first forecast for 2004, the economists polled by Reserve Bank of Philadelphia tipped growth next year of 3.5 per cent.
In 2003, the economists expected growth of just 2.5 per cent in the first half of the year and a recovery to 3.5-per cent growth in the second half, the survey said.
"The acceleration in growth over the second half of the year will be accompanied by a falling rate of unemployment, from an expected steady rate of 6.0 per cent in the first half to 5.7 per cent by year's end," it said.
The forecasters expected the unemployment rate to be an average 5.9 per cent this year, up a bit from their projection of 5.7 per cent in the previous survey.
The unemployment rate would drop to 5.5 per cent in 2004, they said.
AFP