Survey: Business economists foresee persistent inflation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s business economists have sharply raised their forecasts for inflation, predicting an extension of the price spikes that have resulted in large part from bottlenecked supply chains.

A survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics found that its panel of forecasters expects consumer prices to rise 6% this quarter compared with a year ago. That marks an increase from the 5.1% inflation the forecasters predicted in September for the same 12-month period.

Eighty-seven percent of the panelists have identified supply chain bottlenecks as a major factor in the acceleration of prices.

Julie Coronado, vice president of the NABE, said that nearly three-fourths of the panel of 48 forecasters expects the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which reflects consumer spending patterns, to increase 4.9% this year — far above the central bank’s 2% annual inflation target.