According to a statement released by the US Department of the Treasury, the economy is in a position to maintain moderate growth for the rest of 2006 based on economic indicators in the second quarter.

In his “Statement for The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of The Bond Market Association” (don’t try to say it three times fast) released on July 31,2006, Robert Stein, the Deputy Assistant for Macroeconomics states that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) grew 3.5 percent despite some ups and downs. Unemployment was at 4.6%, the lowest quarterly rate since 2001 and over 1.8 million jobs have been added since last year.

Core inflation was at 2.6% but consumer prices were 4.3% over last June. Gasoline prices were up more than 33 percent with consumers looking at prices of more than $3 per gallon for gasoline. Energy prices are being blamed for the rise in inflation in the second quarter.

Despite a slowing since the robust 5.6% growth of the first quarter, the economy is expected to maintain an overall 3% growth for the rest of the year.