WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's chief economic adviser Christina Romer said on Thursday that the recession-hit U.S. economy was facing substantial downward momentum but predicted that it would recover.
"We anticipate that real GDP will fall significantly in the first quarter of this year," she said in laying out the underlying economic assumptions for Obama's newly unveiled budget. "We expect it to bottom out sometime around mid-year 2009 and begin growing again by the end of the year."
"We're forecasting real GDP growth of 3.2 percent for 2010 as a whole and more robust growth in 2011, 2012 and 2013," she told reporters."Our forecast reflects the administration's assessment that the comprehensive recovery program outlined by the president on Tuesday night will be effective. As he so plainly said, we will recover."