Economic outlook getting dimmer
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida’s economic outlook is getting worse due to the “double-whammy” of the national recession on top of the state’s housing slump, state economists said Monday.
They made another downward shift in their economic outlook for the state. That’s only going to make a bad budget situation worse for Florida lawmakers, who begin their annual 60-day session on Tuesday.
It now looks like the national recession is going to last through the end of this summer, a quarter longer than previously forecast, said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
In November, the economists predicted a gap of at least $3.8 billion for the next budget year, which begins July 1, just to keep programs going and pay for other “musts.”