Business Leaders Predict Continued Growth Mixed With Recession Concerns

(KNSI) — A Midwest business leaders survey shows continued growth mixed with increasing concern for recession.

Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss explains that 25% of supply managers expect a downturn, but “19% expect healthy growth, while the remaining 58 percent expect flat growth.”

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index for June is down to 58.6 from May’s 60. Anything above 50 suggests growth. Goss says July’s Midwest Business Conditions Index shows one in five supply managers’ surveys estimate the probability of a recession above 90%. The index covers business managers in Minnesota and eight other states.

It’s not all bad news for the Midwest economy, however. Goss says, “We will see softening inflationary pressures in the months ahead, but it’s still too high. We’re well above the Federal Reserve’s target of two-percent inflation, and we’re not going to reach that until well into 2023.”

The U.S. inflation rate was 8.6% for May, which is a 40-year high.