US firms trim growth forecasts

WASHINGTON: As they continue to feel the impact of United States trade wars and struggle to find workers, American companies have rolled back their growth estimates for this year, according to a survey released yesterday.

The US economy will continue to grow but “barely half” of the business economists surveyed now forecast the country’s gross domestic product to expand by more than two per cent this year, “compared with 67 per cent of respondents in the January survey”, the semi-annual survey by the National Association for Business Economics showed.

Most of the rest expected the economy to grow by two per cent or less, the survey added.

The government on Friday reported that the economy expanded 3.2 per cent in the first three months but many economists say that pace cannot be sustained.

At the same time companies in the survey continue to try to adjust to the impact of retaliatory tariffs on American goods and to US tariffs on imports that have raised costs.

In addition, 42 percent reported negative sales and a third said they had delayed planned investments.