White House Raises Full-Year GDP Growth Forecast to 3.6%

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he U.S. economy will grow 3.6% this year, faster than the 3.4% gross domestic product expansion rate predicted six months ago, the White House said Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Last year, GDP grew by 3.2%.

The consumer price index, a gauge of inflation, will rise 3% this year, President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers said, down from a 3.7% last year but higher than its Dec. 1 forecast of 2.4% rise, Bloomberg reported.

“We continue to see signs that the U.S. economy is strong and on the right path to sustaining this trend,”' Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a statement released in Washington, Bloomberg reported.