Across the ocean the worst seemed to be over, but surprisingly the US economy has also slowed down again. According to the preliminary estimate released by the Department of Commerce, in the first quarter, US GDP grew by 2,2% on an annual basis.
A more than positive figure if compared with the recession in the Eurozone, but which remains well below expectations. Analysts had estimated an increase of 2,5%. The gap widens further in comparison with the previous quarter: between October and December 2011, the economy made in the USA had grown by 3%, again on an annual basis.
The Commerce Department said the slowdown in the economy "reflects a decline in private investment and a decline in fixed-rate non-residential investment" (a category that includes spending on facilities, computers and industrial equipment).
Fixed-rate non-residential investments in fact fell by 2,1% in the first quarter, while they had gained 5,2% in the previous quarter. The increase in inventories, which had a large impact on the increase in GDP at the end of last year, contributed to only a quarter of the economic development in the first three months of 2012.
