Economist Sees Growth In Key Markets -- Except Japan

Assuming Alan Greenspan and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee opt for another 25-basis-point increase in the influential federal funds rate at their Oct. 5 meeting in Washington -- a prospect on which economists are sharply divided -- the U.S. economy will slow to 2.7% inflation-adjusted GDP growth in the year 2000 from 3.8% this year, says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's DRI, Lexington, Mass. At the same time, Europe's economies are staring to improve, and Wyss foresees the inflation rate on that side of the Atlantic remaining below 2% while the U.S. moves to 2.2%. Half a world away from the U.S., the question is how fast Asia will rebound from the financial crisis that began in July 1997. Wyss believes that the affected economies have turned the economic corner -- except for Japan. After flat output this year, DRI expects the Japanese economy to worsen in 2000.