## 9.3 Forecasting

To forecast a regression model with ARIMA errors, we need to forecast the regression part of the model and the ARIMA part of the model, and combine the results. As with ordinary regression models, in order to obtain forecasts we first need to forecast the predictors. When the predictors are known into the future (e.g., calendar-related variables such as time, day-of-week, etc.), this is straightforward. But when the predictors are themselves unknown, we must either model them separately, or use assumed future values for each predictor.

To continue the previous example, we will calculate forecasts for the next eight quarters assuming that the future percentage changes in personal disposable income will be equal to the mean percentage change from the last forty years.

fcast <- forecast(fit, xreg=rep(mean(uschange[,2]),8))
autoplot(fcast) + xlab("Year") +
ylab("Percentage change")

The prediction intervals for this model are narrower than those for the model developed in Section 8.5 because we are now able to explain some of the variation in the data using the income predictor.

It is important to realise that the prediction intervals from regression models (with or without ARIMA errors) do not take into account the uncertainty in the forecasts of the predictors. So they should be interpreted as being conditional on the assumed (or estimated) future values of the predictor variables.