By DPA,
Washington : US economic growth for the first quarter of 2010 was less than previously estimated, falling to an annualised rate 2.7 percent in final figures released Friday by the Commerce Department.
The earlier estimate for the gross domestic product at the end of May showed growth of 3.0 percent for the first quarter.
The Commerce Department said the decrease was partly attributed to lower consumer spending than expected. Initial figures indicated that consumer spending had climbed for the first quarter by 3.5 percent, but that was lowered to 3.0 percent in Friday’s release.
The growth estimate was smaller than had been expected but nevertheless showed that the economy was continuing, albeit slowly, on the path to recovery following the recession that began in December 2007.
Scott Brown, a chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in Saint Petersburg, Florida, told Bloomberg news that the slowing economic recovery could produce less hiring to dampen the still high unemployment rate.
“We’re seeing a lot of signs that the pace of the recovery has moderated somewhat,” Brown said. “You’re seeing probably more downside risks to growth in the near-term. If enough businesses believe it, they’re going to stop hiring and making capital investments.”
The world’s largest economy grew 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. During the same January-March period one year ago, at the height of the recession, the US economy shrank 6.2 percent.
The Commerce Department said the decrease in the dross domestic product also resulted from a slower pace in private inventory investment and in exports and a larger decrease in state and local government spending than had been anticipated.