The US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first quarter of 2019, according to the first provisional estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) in that period, announced today the Department of Commerce.
The increase registered between January and March far exceeds the analysts’ calculations, which had predicted a growth of 2.3%.
It also represents a notable advance compared to the last quarter of 2018, when GDP increased by 2.2 percent.
Spending by state and local governments, trade and investment in inventories were the main drivers of the economic acceleration in the first months of this year, explained the Office of Economic Analysis (BEA), the agency of the Department of Trade responsible for GDP data.
However, consumer spending, which accounts for two thirds of economic activity, grew at an annual rate of 1.2%, the smallest increase in the last year.
In any case, the data confirm the boom of the world’s leading economy, after posting a growth of 2.9% in 2018, the fastest pace since 2015.
The progressive slowdown in GDP since the second quarter of 2018, when an annual rate of 4.2% was reached, led analysts to foresee a slowdown in the economy, an interpretation that may change after today’s data.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) has ruled out practically higher increases in interest rates for the rest of the year, and also lowered the growth prospects for this year from 2.3% to 2.1%.
The White House maintained, however, optimism, and in its latest budget proposal predicted a rate of annual economic expansion above 3%, both this year and next.
President Donald Trump went to social networks to defend the highly positive report on the economy news:
On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecasts for the United States this month, predicting that this year its economy will grow by 2.3%, and warned of the effects of the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing on global development .
