In testimony this morning before a Congressional committee, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke stated that economic growth was likely to be minimal and that contraction of the economy was possible in the first half of the year. Mr. Bernanke's comments now seem to be in line with those of most reputable economists, who for some time have been stating that it is not only possible, but likely that the United States GDP would contract in the first half of the year. If this does happen, it would become an official recession.
From
The New York Times:
Over all, Mr. Bernanke said, “It now appears likely that real gross domestic product will not grow much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly.”
While he said growth would likely recover in the second half of the year, and return to a “sustainable pace” in 2009, he warned that the current turbulence made the economic outlook difficult to predict.
“The uncertainty attending this forecast is quite high and the risks remain to the downside,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment