Business news for Thu, 29 Nov 2007 & with words economic+forecast. 6 news.

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to revise lower its 2008 estimate of world economic growth due to financial market turmoil and surging oil prices.

AP - The deteriorating housing market forced the White House to lower its projection for economic growth next year and raise its forecast for unemployment. Inflation was expected to moderate.

Also on Thursday, government data showed that U.S. home prices had marked a quarterly decline for the first time in 13 years in the third quarter.

The White House lowered its 2008 economic forecast, predicting a rise in unemployment as the housing slump and tight credit weigh down national economic activity.

The deteriorating housing market forced the White House to lower its projection for economic growth next year and raise its forecast for unemployment. Inflation was expected to moderate.

Roads are clogging up, as government retreats from the obvious solution MARGARET THATCHER was a great fan of the motorcar, speaking approvingly of "a great car-owning democracy". She would no doubt be pleased to note that today only 25% of Britain's households have no access to a car, compared with 41% when she came to power. Yet car ownership remains low by international standards. One reason may be the state of the country's roads, which are among the most congested in Europe--and set to get worse. On November 28th the RAC Foundation, a motoring lobby group, released a forecast of traffic growth. Using assumptions similar to those of an official study carried out last year by Sir Rod Eddington, an ex-boss of British Airways, it predicts that a combination of economic and population growth will lead to a 37% increase in demand for road space by 2041. As road-building rates have declined steadily over the past two decades, that does not bode well. ...