FORECASTS

FORECASTS Every month The Economist surveys a group of forecasters and calculates the average of their predictions of economic growth, inflation and current-account balances for 15 countries. The table also shows the high and low forecasts for growth. The previous month's forecasts, where different, are shown in brackets. Our forecasters have become more optimistic about growth prospects this year. They have raised their growth predictions for six countries—Austria, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden and the United States. But their views on inflation have taken a less positive turn. The panellists expect consumer-price inflation to accelerate in Belgium, Britain and Japan. Their average forecasts for Australian and Austrian inflation, however, have been lowered.