ECONOMIC FORECASTS

ECONOMIC FORECASTS Every month The Economist surveys a group of economic forecasters and calculates the average of their predictions for economic growth, inflation and current-account balances for 15 countries and for the euro area. The table also shows the highest and lowest forecasts of growth. The previous month's forecasts, where different, are shown in brackets. Predictions for the United States appear to have been affected by the Federal Reserve's recent decision not to raise interest rates. Our forecasters have revised their estimates of America's economic growth upwards by 0.2 percentage points, for both 2000 and 2001. Despite a strong Canadian dollar, forecasts for Canada's current account have climbed sharply, to 0.8% of GDP for 2000 and 2001.