Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Predicts Slow Growth, Local Forecaster Agrees

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April 5th, 2013

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President is unconvinced the U.S. economic picture for this year will be much rosier that the past four years.

Dennis Lockhart recently predicted a modest pace of growth,  contained inflation and a gradual reduction in unemployment.”

WABE’s Michelle Wirth spoke with a local economic forecaster who also says it’s going to be a lackluster year.

Rajeev Dhawan is director of the Economic Forecasting Center in Georgia State University’s College of Business. Dhawan agrees with Lockhart and says he might be even more pessimistic. He’s concerned about the next few months.

“We have the payroll tax cut that has gone away, that’s a short term thing. Then we have the sequester, its impact on the economy…will likely also play out, but also most of our trading partners whether its Europe, Japan or China, they are either in a recession or they have slowed down, so manufacturing is going to suffer in the coming months because demand for the products from abroad will go down.”

He also says high gasoline prices and the fact that a budget deal hasn’t been reached in Washington are likely to affect growth. But Dhawan is optimistic about 2014.

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