US Economy Shrugs Off Shutdown With 3.2% Growth In Fourth Quarter
The US economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.2% in the last three months of 2013, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, as consumers and businesses largely ignored a government shutdown and fight over the debt ceiling.
The pace of growth slowed from 4.1% in the previous quarter but still means that US gross domestic product (GDP) the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at an annual rate of 3.7% in the last half of 2013, a pace unseen since 2003.
A weak first half of the year dragged the annual rate of growth down to 1.9% for all of 2013, down from 2.8% in 2012.
“When we take into account the near three-week federal government shutdown at the start of the quarter, the 3.2% annualized gain in fourth-quarter GDP growth is pretty impressive, particularly since it followed a 4.1% gain in the third quarter. The broader picture is that, as the massive fiscal drag diminishes, US economic growth is accelerating,” Paul Ashworth, chief US economist, Capital Economics wrote in a note to investors.
The fourth-quarter number, the Commerce Department’s first estimate of GDP in the period, benefitted from healthy gains in consumer spending as 2013 drew to a close. Personal consumption expenditures, which make up more than two-thirds of GDP, rose by an annual rate of 3.3%, the strongest pace in three years.
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http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/30/us-economy-growth-fourth-quarter-2013
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