U.S. GDP increases 2.3 pct in 2019, 2.1 pct in Q4

U.S. economic growth slowed to 2.3 percent in 2019 and had an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter in the "advance" estimate, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The slowdown in real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2019, compared to 2.9 percent in 2018, primarily reflected decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and a downturn in exports.

Real GDP growth in the fourth quarter was the same as that in the third. It was slightly up from the 2 percent in the second quarter, and marked a sharp deceleration from the 3.1 percent in the first quarter.

In the fourth quarter, a downturn in imports, an acceleration in government spending, and a smaller decrease in nonresidential investment were offset by a larger decrease in private inventory investment and a slowdown in PCE, the report said.

PCE, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the overall economy, grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter, lower than the 3.2 percent growth pace in the third quarter.

Nonresidential fixed investment, a measure of corporate spending on structures and equipment, fell at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, following a contraction of 2.3 percent in the third quarter and a decrease of 1 percent in the second quarter.

Private inventories subtracted 1.09 percentage points from GDP growth in the fourth quarter, after cutting 0.03 in the third quarter and 0.91 in the second.

Net exports, meanwhile, added 1.48 percentage points to GDP growth in the fourth quarter, after shaving 0.14 percentage point off the growth in the third quarter and 0.68 percentage point in the second quarter.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)