GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The greater Grand Rapids economy has slowed down for the third month in a row, a Grand Valley State University researcher says.
Brian Long, the director of supply management research at GVSU’s Seidman College of Business, has been tracking the Grand Rapids-area economy since 1989 with a monthly survey to West Michigan firms and purchasing agents. He said three months in a row of negative growth doesn’t happen often.
Still, he said it’s not necessarily a reason to be alarmed, as the Federal Reserve has worked to create a slowdown in order to curb inflation.
“It is concerning from the standpoint that we can’t anticipate just exactly where we’re going from here. This could be nothing more than a slowdown, i.e. the soft landing that the Federal Reserve has counted for us,” he explained. “To a certain extent, the higher interest rates have caused the economy to slow down, but I tell people that’s exactly what the Fed wanted to happen.”
US inflation reaches a 3-year low as Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates