WEB DESK
Economic growth in USA has accelerated in the fourth quarter as businesses replenished depleted inventories to meet strong demand for goods, helping the country to post its best performance in nearly four decades in 2021.
Gross domestic product increased at a 6.9% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its advance GDP estimate on Thursday. That followed a 2.3% growth pace in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP growth rising at a 5.5% rate. Estimates ranged from as low as a 3.4% rate to as high as a 7.0% pace.
The economy grew 5.7% in 2021, the strongest since 1984. It contracted 3.4% in 2020, the biggest drop in 74 years.
Growth last year was fueled by massive fiscal stimulus as well as very low interest rates. The momentum, however, appears to have faded by December amid an onslaught of COVID-19 infections, fueled by the Omicron variant, which contributed to undercutting spending as well as disrupting activity at factories and services businesses.