US economy grew 2.6 percent in the last quarter

The US Department of Commerce published the final data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period October-December 2022.

Consequently, US GDP rose 2.6 percent annually in the fourth quarter of last year.

Although there was a downward revision in the GDP data in said period, the market expectation was that the economy would grow by 2.7 percent in the last quarter.

THE FIRST ESTIMATE WAS 2.9 PERCENT

In the pioneering data on the country’s GDP data published in January, it is highlighted that the economy grew by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, while the second forecast published in February grew by 2.7 percent. .

While the US economy contracted 1.6 percent in the first quarter and 0.6 percent in the second quarter of last year, it grew 3.2 percent in the third quarter.

The country’s economy grew 2.1 percent in 2022. The US economy had posted its fastest growth since 1984, growing 5.9 percent in 2021.

Growth in the US economy in the fourth quarter of last year was driven by increases in private equity investment, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending. In the same period, housing, fixed investment, and exports declined.

The downward revisions to exports and consumer spending were decisive in the revision of GDP in the fourth quarter of last year.

In the same period, the increase in the price index for personal consumption expenditures remained at 3.7 percent. Excluding food and energy expenditures, the basic personal consumption expenditures price index was revised from 4.3 percent to 4.4 percent in this period. (AA)