-2-
The
next
chart provides additional detail on the federalbudget.
For
both fiscal years 1983 and 1984 the staff
is
expecting actual deficits of around
$200
billion. These deficits
are
close to those estimated by the administration, althoughthere
are
compositional differences;
for
example,
we
are assumingsomewhat larger cuts in defense outlays and
smaller
cuts innondefense programs. Nevertheless, the budget remains
a
stimulative force,
as
the structural deficits continue to risethis year and next.The chart on the bottom shows outlays and receiptsrelative to
GNP
since
the
mid-60s.
As
can be seen, a large gapbetween the two has opened up given the sizable net tax cuts and
smaller
outlay cuts. The gap
is,
of course, influenced bycyclical forces, but policy actions have led to a situation wherethe gap won't close even in
a
good business environment.This hasn't escaped the attention of financial marketparticipants and undoubtedly
is
influencing interest rates, shown
on
the next chart. The staff's policy assumptions
and
GNP
andfinancial forecast
are
associated with
rates
expected to remainnear current
levels,
or
drift lower over
time
as further progresson inflation generates
a
reduction of expected inflation. The
M2
assumption in the forecast
is
premised upon trendless behavior ofvelocity for that aggregate, but in arriving at
our
forecast
we
implicitly have assumed that unexpected behavior of the aggregate
is
largely permitted to show through in measured aggregate growthand
is
not mainly transmitted to
interest
rates.
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