US GDP Increases 1.9 Percent In First Quarter

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US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2011, official data showed Friday.

The Department of Commerce indicated that in the fourth quarter of 2010, real GDP increased 3.1 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “second” estimate issued last month.
In the second estimate, the increase in real GDP was 1.8 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected “positive contributions” from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, exports, and non-residential fixed investment that were partly offset by “negative contributions” from federal government spending and state and local government spending, the Department showed.

It added that imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, also increased.

According to the data, the price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by US residents, increased 3.9 percent in the first quarter, compared to an increase of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.3 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Also, real personal consumption expenditures increased 2.2 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter.

KUNA

KUNA is the Kuwait News Agency

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