WORLD> America
|
Survey: Most economists see recession end in 2009
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-27 23:25 NABE's growth projections for the third and fourth quarters are lower than those made in late February. The downgrade was based on the expectation that businesses, whose profits and sales were hit hard by the recession, will remain wary of ramping up investment.
Many forecasters also predict that home sales will hit bottom by the middle of this year, another stabilizing factor for the economy. A report on sales of previously owned homes will be released Wednesday, and data on new-home sales is due Thursday. Next year, the economy should grow by 2 percent, the forecasters said. That was lower than the 2.4 percent growth projected in February. With a lethargic recovery expected, forecasters predict the Fed won't start boosting interest rates until the second quarter of next year. Because Fed policymakers expect credit and financial problems to ebb slowly, "the pace of the recovery would continue to be damped in 2010," they said last week.
|