U.S. GDP suffer the largest contraction in 27 years
| Date: February 27, 2009 | Source: Europa Press |
| Category: Economy | |
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Loading ... The annualized contraction of the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter of 2008 rose 6.2%, its worst figure since the first quarter of 1982, compared with 0.5% decline in the third quarter and far worse than the estimates initials indicating a decrease of 3.8% as reported by the Commerce Department.
The sharp drop in U.S. economic activity is largely due to reduced consumption, which fell by 4.3% last quarter, compared with a fall of 3.8% in the third quarter, representing the largest decline registered in almost three decades.
Investment in residential property fell by 22.2%, six percentage points above the cut in the third quarter, while non-residential fixed investment fell 21.1%, far below the 1.7% decline for the quarter above.
Meanwhile, in the whole of 2008, the U.S. economy grew by 1.1%, representing almost half the growth recorded in 2007, when GDP rose by 2%.
