The Commerce
Department released on Thursday its advance estimate for the U.S. gross
domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2023, which showed that the
U.S. economy expanded much more
than predicted in the reviewed period.
According to
the estimate, the U.S. real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.3 per cent q-o-q in
the final quarter of 2023, following an unrevised 4.9 per cent q-o-q increase
in the previous quarter.
Economists had predicted
the U.S. GDP to advance 2.0 per cent q-o-q.
According to
the report, the increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter was due to gains in
consumer spending, exports, state and local government spending, non-residential
fixed investment, federal government spending, private inventory investment,
and residential fixed investment. Meanwhile, imports, which are a subtraction
in the calculation of GDP, rose.
In 2023, the
U.S. economy grew 2.5 per cent y-o-y after a 1.9 per cent y-o-y rise in 2022,
primarily reflecting advances in consumer spending, non-residential fixed
investment, state and local government spending, exports, and federal
government spending that were partly offset by declines in residential fixed
investment and inventory investment. Imports fell.