NEW YORK: A survey of business economists has found that a majority still expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates before the end of the year, with the broader economy expected to grow at a slightly faster pace in 2015 than previously forecast. Economists now expect gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, to rise 2.5 per cent for the year, according to the survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). That’s up from the previous forecast of 2.4 per cent in June. The uptick is the result of a stronger-than-expected growth in first half of the year, however. For remainder of the year, economists lowered their forecast. For 2016, economists also lowered their forecast to growth of 2.7 per cent, down from their prediction of 2.9 per cent growth in June. The survey was based on forecasts by 50 economists and was conducted from September 16 to 23.