The Legislature’s chief economist tells the House Appropriations Committee not to expect a quick economic recovery once the coronavirus pandemic ends. Greg Albrecht says Louisiana will not be able to recover, until the national and world economy recovers.
“The state didn’t have a whole lot of economic momentum before this event. We were moving slowly, but very slowly, which made us very vulnerable to a shock like this,” said Albrecht.
Albrecht anticipates a significant loss in state revenues for the fiscal year that begins in July. He says all you have to do is look at the price of oil.
“I think mineral revenue will be the largest component of the downgrade, but to that we will be having to look at the sales tax fall off, the income tax fall off, gaming fall off, etcetera,” said Albrecht.
The Revenue Estimating Conference meets on Monday and they’ll give a projection on how money the state will have available for next fiscal year.
The Louisiana Office of Tourism says tourism is Louisiana’s fourth-largest employer, but Albrecht says it will take a while for that part of our economy to bounce back.
“Tourism sectors in our economy are going to take a long time. They are gone for this calendar year, probably for most of next calendar year. Maybe in the spring, we get a little pick up again. It depends on the medical metrics people are seeing,” said Albrecht.
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