Despite the decline, the result for February still indicates that the Illinois economy is growing at a good clip. Last month?s result was the highest in eight years. While lower, the current reading remains in strong positive territory.

The performance of the index suggests that Illinois avoided the slowdown of the national economy that occurred in the last quarter of 2005.

The March reading suggests that the pace of economic growth in the state has slowed, but the result is still strongly positive. This is consistent with forecasts by most observers of the national economy, who expect the economy to continue to expand, albeit at a somewhat slower rate.

We have a huge hidden cost.

We continue to see strong and sustainable recovery across many key sectors of the economy,

Building permits are just one small indicator of the economy.