White House Projects 2.7% Growth, Sees Strengthening Trend

The Obama administration cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year and raised its unemployment outlook to an average of 9.3 percent, in an assessment completed in November, adding that more recent numbers show a trend toward strengthening.

Gross domestic product will increase 2.7 percent this year, the White House said today, compared with the 3.6 percent growth it predicted in July. Next year, the economy will expand 3.6 percent, compared with 4.2 percent in the previous forecast, according to economic predictions that accompanied President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget proposal.