
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994                    TAG: 9406110348 
SECTION: BUSINESS                     PAGE: I2    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940611                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

1994 LOOKS LIKE IT'LL TURN OUT TO BE A YEAR OF VERY LOW INFLATION

{LEAD} Consumers are unlikely to lose much buying power this year because increased productivity and rising interest rates will keep inflation under control, many top forecasters believe.

Blue Chip Economic Indicators, a newsletter based in Sedona, Ariz., reported Friday that the consensus forecast of 52 prominent analysts sees consumer prices rising 2.7 percent, unchanged from the 1993 inflation rate.

{REST} Price hikes in 1993 were the smallest since costs edged up 1.1 percent in 1986, which was the best performance since a 1 percent gain in the Consumer Price Index in 1964. The CPI had shot up 6.1 percent in 1990; it slowed to 3.1 percent in 1991 and 2.9 in 1992.

Appearing to support the forecast of lower costs this year, the Labor Department said Friday wholesale prices fell 0.1 percent in May, the second consecutive monthly drop.

by CNB