Inflation and economy remain challenges in 2024
February 20, 2024 at 9:00 p.m.
The pace of overall economic growth is likely to slow in the U.S. this year but remain stronger in the South, a Federal Reserve economist told Chattanooga business leaders Tuesday.
David E. Altig, the chief economic adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said the widely predicted economic downturn never materialized last year and inflation has moderated even while the pace of economic growth increased last year.
Buoyed by fiscal stimulus measures adopted during the pandemic and restrained by a series of 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Board in 2022 and the first half of 2023, the U.S. economy last year grew at a healthy 3.1% rate while inflation dropped from 3.1% to 2.6%, Altig said. In the second half of 2023, inflation as measured by personal consumption expenditures actually declined to be within the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% overall inflation, he said.
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