2018/19 Budget Communication 2018_2019 BUDGET COMMUNICATION | Page 61

some 1.2 per cent higher than it otherwise would have been
in the absence of the announced tax policy changes. On an
annual basis, U.S. growth is now projected at 2.9 per cent
this year and 2.7 per cent in 2019.
These rates reflect
significant upward revisions of 0.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent,
respectively, from the forecast of last October.
The sobering element of this new projection is
that U.S growth over the medium term is now expected to be
weaker than previously forecast, due to the increased fiscal
deficits in the wake of current expansionary policies and the
temporary nature of some of the recently announced tax
policy changes.
Both the Euro area and Japan are forecast to
expand at above trend growth rates in the near term on the
basis of accommodating policy stances, improved external
demand conditions and buoyant domestic demand. Growth
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