Economists See Continued Growth for the Rest of This Year

The nation’s economy is expected to continue to expand for the duration of this year, with the Gross Domestic Product slated to see an increase of 5.6%.

That prediction is coming from a National Association for Business survey of nearly 50 economists who delivered an additional optimistic note in predicting that an anticipated 5.1% inflation rate will most likely decrease net year to around 2.4%.

Although the predicted 5.6% rate of growth is regarded as strong and one more sign that the nation is continuing to recover from the doldrums of the pandemic, the rate was nevertheless smaller than the 6.7% anticipated by the same economists last spring. 

A strong 67% of the economists said they believe non-farm payrolls will return to their pre-Covid 19 levels by the end of next year, while only 12% are predicting an earlier first quarter 2022 recovery.

The economists also believe that the interest rate increases seen in recent months will most likely moderate sometime next year.

Trying to calibrate the impact of the pandemic and vaccine protection on the economy, around 66% of the economists pointed to a vaccine-resistant version of the Delta variant as the “biggest risk to the economy.”

On the other hand, a stepped-up rollout of the vaccines is seen as the biggest potential boost to the economy for the rest of this year and 2022.

​By Garry Boulard

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