The expansion in the last quarter of the year and the better forecast compared to the second estimate are due to an increase in consumer spending, exports, non-residential fixed investment, public spending and residential fixed investment.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States registered an expansion of 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, four tenths less than the 1.2% growth recorded in the previous quarter, according to the third and final estimate published this Thursday by the Office of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.
On an annualized basis, US GDP growth between October and December stood at 3.4%, better than the previous estimate of 3.2% but down from 4.9% in the previous three months.
The Office of Economic Analysis explains that the expansion of the last quarter of the year and the better forecast with respect to the second estimate are due to an increase in consumer spending, exports, non-residential fixed investment, public spending and fixed investment residential. Increases were partially offset by the decline in investment in private inventories. For its part, imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
Thus, in 2023 as a whole, the world's largest economy recorded growth of 2.5%, six tenths above the 1.9% expansion in 2022, despite the tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The increase in real GDP in 2023 primarily reflected higher consumer spending, as well as increases in non-residential fixed investment, state and local government spending, exports, and federal government spending that were partially offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and investment in inventories, while imports decreased.
INFLATION OF 3.2% IN FEBRUARY
The good performance of the American economy is combined with inflation that increased slightly in February to 3.2% in year-on-year terms, one tenth more than in January.
Regarding the underlying index, which excludes food and energy prices from its calculation due to their greater volatility, it closed the second month of 2024 with an increase of 3.8%, one tenth less than the previous month and its lowest mark from the end of 2021.
With this panorama in the evolution of prices, the Fed decided in its last monetary policy meeting to keep the script unchanged and leave interest rates between 5.25% and 5.5%, which remain at their highest levels since January 2001.
And the body indicated after its meeting that it does not consider it appropriate to reduce the target range of the price of money until there is greater certainty that inflation is returning "in a sustained manner" to its 2% objective.
Of course, in the last month of 2023, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Fed, the decision-making body in the monetary policy of the United States, expected that the rates would be between 4.5% and 5% at the close. this year, although some members were betting on higher figures and only one was confident in a range of 4%.
