Consensus Economics, the world’s leading economic survey organization, has selected CIBC’s chief economist Avery Shenfeld and team as the recipient of the 2013 Forecaster Accuracy Award (FAA) for Canada.

The FAA program recognizes a select group of expert country economic forecasters who have most accurately predicted the performance of GDP growth and Consumer Price Inflation for their targeted economies over a 24-month forecasting cycle. CIBC was recognized for its high quality research, commitment to regular forecasts and ability to identify most accurately the trends and levels of key indicators for the past year.

“This award speaks to the strength of our economics team for their accurate predictions and perceptive analysis regarding the factors driving our economy,” says Richard Nesbitt, chief operating fficer, CIBC (TSX:CM). “We are proud of the high quality and value-added research Avery Shenfeld and our economics team provide to our clients.”

The FAA comes after Bloomberg Markets named Shenfeld as the top forecaster of the Canadian economy for the two-year period ended on Sept. 30, 2012.