NEW YORK, June 20: The US economy is still set for a pick-up in the second half of this year and unemployment will gradually decline over the coming year, a regional Federal Reserve Bank survey said on Friday.

A semiannual survey of 30 private-sector and academic economists conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia predicted the world’s largest economy will grow by 3.5 per cent in the second half of 2003, only a tad softer than the 3.6 per cent forecast of the previous survey.

Next year, forecasters across the nation see a further strengthening to a 3.8 per cent growth rate, which would be slightly above the economy’s long-term trend and help to gradually bring down the jobless rate.

“In the forecasts, the unemployment rate is expected to decline from 6.1 per cent in June 2003 to 5.9 per cent in December 2003 and 5.7 per cent the following June,” the Philadelphia Fed said.—Reuters