A panel of business economists released their forecast for the US economy on Monday, saying that it is likely to head towards recession or at least the growth in this field will slow down to reach its bottom limit during the first half of the current year.

Around 45 percent of the panel of 49 National Association for Business Economics economists that were surveyed between January 25 and February 13 believe that a recession might occur by the end of the year, but that it would be a short term and weak one. However, the other 55 percent said that the downturn would be ”relatively muted.”

That is more than a 25 percent rise in the expectations of a recession compared to another survey conducted in November, 2007.

"U.S. economic growth is expected to slow to a crawl in the first half of 2008," said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, NABE president and chief economist at Ford Motor Company.

The deepening crisis in the US economy is blamed on the ongoing housing slump, the growing energy costs, as oil reached record prices, and the troubled financial markets. Amid these problems, the economic growth is expected to reach 0.4 percent during the first quarter of the fiscal 2008 and 1 percent in the second quarter, according to the survey.

While the November survey forecasted a 2.6 growth in the fourth quarter of the current year, the recent one lowered it to 1.8 percent, reflecting the deepening crisis in the US economy.

"While a slight majority of our panel of our forecasters expects the economy to avoid a recession in 2008, growth is expected to average just 0.75 percent before accelerating in the second half in response to fiscal and monetary stimulus," said Hughes-Cromwick.

There is hope however, as the analysts believe that the stimulus package, which was signed into law earlier this month, might give a boost to the economic growth in the second half of the year, with its tax breaks for businesses and tax rebates that worth as much as 600 dollars per individual and 1.200 dollars per couple, leading to a 2.8 percent annual rate.

Around 40 percent of the specialists said that the package would help the economy stay away of the recession, while 30 percent believe that it would only keep the downturn mild and short.