New Projections Show Larger Deficits

Roger Runningen and Brian Faler writing for Bloomberg in "Obama Raises ’10 Deficit Outlook 19% to $1.5 Trillion (Update1)," (August 25, 2009) report on budget projections by the White House and the Congressional Budget Office.  Their forecasts have grown gloomier. 

U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion next year, both higher than previous Obama administration forecasts because of a recession that was deeper and longer than expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said.

The Office of Management and Budget forecasts that the U.S. economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year, worse than the 1.2 percent contraction the OMB projected in May. For next year, the budget office said the gross domestic product will grow 2.0 percent, less than the 3.2 percent expected in May. By 2011, the economy would be well on its way to recovery, growing at a 3.8 percent annual rate, according to the administration’s mid-year economic review, released this morning.

“While the danger of the economy immediately falling into a deep recession has receded, the American economy is still in the midst of a serious economic downturn,” the budget office’s report said. “The long-term deficit outlook remains daunting.”

Separately, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office today predicted that the jobless rate would average 10.2 percent next year, gloomier than the White House projection, and forecast the deficit for this year at $1.6 trillion, slightly worse than the White House estimate.