The linkage between housing market developments and the current account is no phenomena only of the recent past. As Alan Greenspan has emphasised, the stable long-term correlation between the US mortgage market and the current account could be observed over the past fifty years.
In 2008, growth is projected to remain in line with the growth of potential output (estimated at 2.8 per cent), keeping the economy operating near its capacity throughout the projection period. Expressed on an average annual basis, this profile implies growth of 2.3 per cent in 2007 and 2.8 per cent in 2008.