US economy forecast to grow by 1.5 percent this year

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Congressional Budget Office says the U.S. economy will grow by just 1.5 percent this year - hurt by a poor first-quarter performance.<br /> <br /> This new assessment is considerably more pessimistic than the Obama administration's.<br /> <br /> Last month, the administration predicted that the economy would grow 2.6 percent this year.<br /> <br /> The CBO says the economy should grow by 3.4 percent over 2015 and 2016, and predicts that the unemployment rate will remain below 6 percent into the future.<br /> <br /> The economy unexpectedly contracted over the first quarter of the year, in part because of an unusually harsh winter.<br /> <br /> The CBO also projects that the government will run a deficit of $506 billion for the budget year ending Sept. 30.