The Economist poll of forecasters

Every three months, The Economist polls a group of forecasters and averages their predictions for economic growth and current-account balances in 25 emerging economies. Relative to our last poll conducted in July, the group of forecasters as a whole has become more optimistic about both this year and next. Its predictions of GDP growth rose for 13 countries for both 2003 and 2004. Next year, compared with our July poll, the group sees the biggest improvement coming from Turkey and Hong Kong, with growth rates of 4.8% and 5.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, the forecasters reduced the growth rates they expect in Thailand and Egypt in 2004 by 0.6 percentage points.