The underlying condition of the US economy is improving, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the IMF added that the recovery from recession has so far been "tepid". In its regular assessment of the economy, the IMF said the US still faces "powerful headwinds". But it noted gains on stock markets and in house prices, and predicted that economic growth should gradually accelerate over the next year. The IMF said the expiration of the payroll tax cut earlier this year and the impact of government spending cuts (through the so-called sequester) were "weighing significantly on growth this year". However, further ahead, the IMF sees a slightly brighter picture and expects "economic activity to accelerate to 2.7% next year as the fiscal drag subsides and the negative legacies of the financial crisis wane further". On unemployment, the IMF predicted that the rate would remain broadly stable this year, "reflecting the pickup in the labour force participation as discouraged workers return to the labour force". It also expects the rate of unemployment to gradually fall in 2014.
