Fed Expects Higher Inflation, Sluggish Growth

Following are the U.S. economic forecasts for 2008, 2009 and 2010 from the Federal Reserve's semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress issued on Tuesday.

Note: Blue Chip Economic Indicators does not provide a forecast for the PCE price index. The Blue Chip consensus forecast for the consumer price index, fourth quarter over fourth quarter, is 4.1 percent for 2008 and 2.5 percent for 2009. In answer to a special question in the latest Blue Chip survey, respondents said they expected the core CPI to rise 2.5 percent, December over December, in 2008 and 2.4 percent in 2009.