Hawaii’s economy is forecast to grow faster than the U.S. economy this year, a trend that is expected to continue into 2014, according to a second-quarter report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Hawaii’s real gross domestic product is forecast to grow by 2.4 percent this year, and by another 2.3 percent in 2014, according to the latest report, which was slightly less optimistic than the last economic report.
“We continue to see strength in the overall economy — near previous estimates,” DBEDT Director Richard C. Lim said in a statement. “From our perspective, we believe Hawaii is poised for steady, positive economic growth.”
The state’s unemployment rate, which was 5.8 percent for all of 2012, is projected to decline by a full percentage point to 4.8 percent in 2013, and drop to 4.5 percent in 2014.
While the forecasts for most indicators remained unchanged from the last report. DBEDT lowered its forecast for total visitor arrival growth by 1.1 percentage points to 4.3 percent, which still puts arrivals at a record 8.3 million for the year. The forecast for visitor spending growth also was revised downward, by 1.5 percentage points to 5.6 percent.
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