CBO says growth to slow in 2019 as deficit climbs to nearly $900 billion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth will slow this year to 2.3 percent from 3.1 percent in 2018, as the stimulative effects of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts wane and the federal budget deficit climbs to nearly $900 billion, congressional researchers said on Monday.

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In its latest 10-year budget and economic outlook, the Congressional Budget Office said 2019 economic growth will also be affected by a projected slowdown in federal government purchases in the fourth quarter of 2019.

After this year, CBO estimates that the economy will grow at an annual average of 1.7 percent through 2023 and 1.8 percent to 2029.

Yearly budget deficits are expected to exceed $1 trillion beginning in 2022. But CBO said its cumulative deficit projection over the next decade is $1.2 trillion less than it was in early 2018, primarily because of legislative changes that included less emergency spending.

CBO said that persistently large deficits will push federal debt held by the public to 93 percent of the economy in 2029, its highest level since just after World War Two, and to about 150 percent of the economy by 2049.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by David Gregorio)