U.S. economy set to grow 3.1% in ’18

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy is projected to grow by 3.1 percent this year, as more government spending and tax cuts help propel an expansion, the Congressional Budget Office said on Monday.

But the robust run of growth may stall as early as next year, with the U.S. economy expected to slow down in 2019 and during the following decade once temporary government policies expire, according to the nonpartisan agency’s report.

Economic growth will slow to 2.4 percent in 2019 and to 1.7 percent in 2020, staying at about that level over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected.

If the numbers prove correct, U.S. economic growth will have jumped from 2.6 percent in 2017 to 3.1 percent in 2018. Those numbers mark a significant improvement over the aftermath of the 2008 recession, which saw an annual growth rate of around a tepid 2.2 percent.

“There is an acceleration of growth that is significant,” said Allen Sinai, chief economist and strategist at Decision Economics. “A year or so ago, 3.1 percent in annual growth did not look doable. But it has happened.”

The federal report suggests the economy is being temporarily juiced, in part due to a large government spending package passed this spring and the Republican tax law passed last fall, which has many provisions set to expire before the end of the decade.