Washington (EFE).- The United States economy grew 0.3% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the last three months of 2022, according to the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product published this Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA , in English) of the Government.
The data shows the slowdown in growth in the world’s leading economy, since the quarter-on-quarter increase in GDP had been three tenths higher -0.6%- in the last quarter of 2022.
The statistics also calculate that the annual growth rate in these first three months of the year was 1.1%, well below the 2.6% estimated in the last quarter of 2022.
Decline in private inventory investments
The slowdown is attributed to a decline in private inventory investment, i.e., the money companies spend purchasing inventory for their inventory that they later plan to sell, and in residential fixed investment, which is purchases of residential facilities. private properties that landlords have in their possession and are rented.
The growth in the first three months reflects an increase in government and consumer spending, as well as an increase in exports, among others.
Consumer spending was spurred by increases in both goods and services: In the case of goods, purchases of motor vehicles grew, while in services there was more spending related to food and health care .
With these data, the US economy has been moderating its growth for two consecutive quarters, after coming out of recession in the third quarter of 2022.
The North American country closed last year with growth of 2.1%.
The US economy
Following the data, the US economy shows signs of cooling off after the latest rate hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
That was in March and 0.25 points -the ninth in a year-, to moderate inflation, despite the turbulence in the banking system.
Last month, the unemployment rate fell one tenth and stood at 3.5%, while inflation continued to fall -for the ninth consecutive month- to 5%.
The GDP data comes after the Republican-majority House of the United States on Wednesday approved a bill to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for broad cuts in public spending, although the initiative has few signs of prospering in the Senate, where the Democrats are in the majority.
The project seeks to respond to one of the country’s most urgent challenges, which last January reached that limit to the money that the Government can legally borrow.
What threatens to lead the first economy in the world to default on its public debt, which could trigger a recession.