UNITED STATES: GROWTH ACCELERATED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER
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by Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The growth of the U.S. economy accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2021, thanks in particular to the rebuilding of business inventories to meet the recovery in demand, which allows the United States to post on 2021 their strongest growth in nearly 40 years.
Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 6.9% at an annualized rate over the October-December period, shows the first estimate of the Commerce Department, after 2.3% in the third quarter.
Economists polled by Reuters on average forecast growth of 5.5%. Their estimates, which ranged between 3.4% and 7.0%, had been collected before the announcement on Wednesday of a record trade deficit in December and that of a marked increase in retail inventories.
Over the whole of 2021, the world’s largest economy thus recorded growth of 5.7%, its best annual performance since 1984, after a contraction of 3.4% of GDP in 2020, the strongest for 74 years.
This rebound was helped by massive fiscal support and low interest rates, but this momentum showed signs of losing momentum towards the end of the year, as the resumption of the COVID-19 epidemic weighed on consumption and disrupted the activity of many industrial or service companies.
In the fourth quarter, growth benefited primarily from the increase in business inventories, amounting to 173.5 billion dollars after a drop of 66.8 billion in July-September.
On its own, this stock rebuilding movement represented a positive contribution of 4.9 percentage points to the evolution of GDP, specifies the Commerce Department.
Consumer spending increased by 3.3% at an annualized rate in the fourth quarter after +2% over the previous three months.
The continued economic recovery, which has contributed to the sharp decline in unemployment while fueling inflation, was one of the main factors that led the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to announce that it would “soon” hike interest rates. interest.
(Report Lucia Mutikani, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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