LANSING – Michigan’s economy should continue to grow, the House Fiscal Agency projected Thursday, as the U.S. economy continues to slowly pull itself forward, auto sales continue to rise, inflation stays relatively low, job growth continues, and state revenues, therefore, continue to increase.

The forecast came one day before the Revenue Estimating Conference, and a week after the Senate Fiscal Agency cast some warnings about the economy.

Budget Director John Nixon, in a newspaper interview, also voiced more optimism than did the SFA, saying the administration’s projected numbers were higher than the SFA’s.

Nixon will not formally be part of the review and deliberation held by Treasurer Andy Dillon, SFA Director Ellen Jeffries and HFA Director Mary Ann Cleary when the estimating conference kicks off at 9 a.m. Friday. The three fiscal directors will decide on the revenue totals Governor Rick Snyder must use when making his 2013-14 budget presentation to the Legislature either later this month or in February.

Conference-watchers know that typically the SFA is the most conservative of the three agencies in making predictions, while the HFA is the most optimistic with Treasury in the middle but tending mostly to the House side. As it never does before the meeting, Treasury did not again this week release its forecast.

Nor did Nixon, in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, release any of the numbers the department forecasts.

The SFA forecast, issued last week, caught many people by surprise by the depth of its pessimism. The agency said the state is growing more slowly than forecast back in May, when the last conference was held. The SFA’s latest forecast predicts a sharper drop in general fund revenues for the current 2012-13 fiscal year from a year ago and much slower growth for the School Aid Fund.

Going forward, the SFA expected the schools fund to actually be in deficit in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

But the HFA did not have the same negative forecast.

The HFA did forecast a drop in general fund revenues for the current year, as the state absorbs the full effect of the 2011 business and personal income tax changes enacted. But it did not see as sharp a drop in those revenues as its Senate counterpart.

And it forecast stronger growth for the School Aid Fund.

The forecast expected 2012-13 General Fund revenue to total $8.8 billion, a drop of 4.7 percent from the 2011-12 revenues of $9.3 billion. The SFA had forecast a drop of 6.5 percent in general fund revenues.

But the HFA projected that a 2.6 percent increase in school revenues, to $11.16 billion, close to what the SFA had projected. The General Fund and School Aid Fund together should total slightly more than $20 billion for the year.

Looking ahead to 2013-14 – the budget year Snyder will provide a plan for to lawmakers – the HFA forecast a total of $20.86 billion.

The General Fund should increase by 5.6 percent that year to $9.3 billion, while the SAF should be up by 3.2 percent to $11.5 billion.

And projecting to the 2014-15 fiscal year, the agency anticipated total revenue, for the two funds, of nearly $21.8 billion.

That year, the General Fund should total almost $9.9 billion, an increase of 5.5 percent, while the School Aid Fund should bring in $11.9 billion, up 3.2 percent.

While the forecast does not project dramatic growth for the state, and does not suggest the state will recoup all the jobs it lost in the decade of the 2000-2010, it does say the state will continue to grow.

That is suggested by several figures. In terms of state unemployment, the forecast says the state should see it fall from a monthly average of 8.9 percent in 2012 to 8.6 percent this year and falling further to 7.9 percent in 2014 and then 7.2 percent in 2015.

Income growth will slow slightly from the 3.4 percent growth in 2012 to 2.8 percent in 2013. But then it should see stronger growth of 4.5 percent in 2014 and then 4.8 percent in 2015.

Inflation will increase, but should still be moderate, the forecast said.

And of particular importance to Michigan residents, car sales are expected to continue to show growth. Totaling an estimated 14.4 million in 2012, the forecast said they should grow to 15.3 million in 2013, then to 15.7 million in 2014 and finally to 16.3 million in 2015. And, the market share of domestic producers should go up slightly.

The HFA numbers follow somewhat Nixon’s pronouncement in the interview that the “economy is doing well.” It is fragile, he said, but showing growth.

He also said the state should not have to make any budget cuts during the upcoming year, but be able to invest in various programs.

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