The US economy is going through a severe and protracted recession which is projected to bottom out later this year, as fiscal and monetary support takes hold and the housing cycle bottoms out. In 2010, even after a recovery gets under way, GDP growth is likely to remain weak because of the slowdown in capital accumulation, negative wealth effects and still adverse, albeit improving, financial conditions. In this environment, a considerable degree of economic slack, especially in the labour market, is likely to persist over the projection period, bringing inflation to very low rates.