Inflation. War. COVID-19. Politics.

Many factors buffeting the Hampton Roads and United States economies make it challenging to predict the growth and performance of different economic sectors.

Every year, however, the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy creates a data-driven look at the local, state and national economies which has proven to be an accurate forecast of the year ahead.

The 2023 Annual Economic Forecast will be delivered Jan. 25 during a luncheon in the Big Blue Room at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on the campus of Old Dominion University.

Registration is still available for the event, which begins at noon.

Economic Forecasting Project Director Vinod Agarwal, an ODU professor of economics, has delivered the annual forecast since 1996. This year’s forecast will be delivered by Agarwal and Robert M. McNab, professor of economics and director of the Dragas Center. Agarwal will present the Hampton Roads forecast, while McNab will deliver predictions for the Virginia and U.S. economies.

The Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University undertakes a wide range of economic, demographic, transportation and defense-oriented studies. Since 1999, the Dragas Center has also produced influential State of the Region Reports for Hampton Roads, and for the past nine years, produced a companion State of the Commonwealth Report. The economic data about year-over-year performance of the economy, as well as predictions of the year ahead, are drawn from the annual Economic Forecast.

For more information, including previous State of the Region and Commonwealth Reports, as well as Economic Forecasts, visit the Dragas Center Website.

To receive updates from the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, please text CEAPODU to 66866 to join the center’s email list and follow DragasCenterODU on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.