Economic Revenue and Forecast Council provides updated state forecast

OLYMPIA — Dave Reich, executive director of the Washington Economic Revenue and Forecast Council, provided an updated economic forecast for the state during the council’s regular Feb. 14 revenue review meeting in Olympia. “I think that's probably the main message, is it's not a recession,” Reich said. “That's not part of our base case, but just a slowly growing economy.” Reich elaborated on what it means to forecast a slow-growth economy. “Nationally that means slow employment growth, it means inflation will continue to trend down slowly from where it is now and it means GDP, or economic growth, will just be slower, sort of in the 1%-2% range,” Reich said. “For Washington, we are also expecting the same to happen here, slower employment growth, but also not a huge spike in unemployment, just fewer job ads pretty much. We also expect, of course, inflation will fall here.”