According to a the quarterly forecast from the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, inflation—adjusted gross domestic product will expand 2.3% in 2014, which is down slightly from the May forecast (2.4%).

Additionally, the forecast predicts an increase of 2.9& in 2016, down from the 3.0% in the previous forecast. GDP growth for 2017 is anticipated to be at 2.7%, which remains steady with earlier predictions.

“The growth rate is not accelerating,” said MAPI Foundation chief economist Daniel J. Meckstroth. “The economy has fully recovered, but it has been an abnormally slow expansion after a sluggish recovery. Consumers and businesses are risk averse, and without the credit hype, spending will have to be commensurate with income growth.”

As has been repeated quite often in economic analysis, a number of factors have challenged economic growth in 2015, including a severe winter, the West Coast port strike, a strong dollar and collapse of oil prices.

The forecast for inflation-adjusted investment in equipment is for growth of 3.1% in 2015, 7.9% in 2016 and 5.9% in 2017. Capital equipment spending in high-tech sectors will also rise. Inflation-adjusted expenditures for information processing equipment are anticipated to increase by 1.7% in 2015 before improving to 10.2% in 2016 and 9.6% in 2017. The MAPI Foundation expects industrial equipment expenditures to advance 6.1% in 2015, 13.0% in 2016 and 8.5% in 2017. Spending on transportation equipment is forecast to increase 6.8% in 2015 and 1.2% in 2016 but decline by 1.1% in 2017.