The US economy grew at an annual rate of 5.7 per cent in the final three months of 2009, the biggest quarterly gain in six years, dpa cited an initial estimate as reporting by the US Commerce Department today. The fourth-quarter gain in gross domestic product (GDP) signals a stronger-than-expected recovery from the deepest US recession in decades and is more than double the 2.2-per-cent growth of the previous quarter. Economists had predicted a 4.7 per cent gain in a Bloomberg News survey. US markets added more than 0.5 per cent within minutes of trading opening in New York. For the whole of 2009, the world's largest economy shrank 2.4 per cent, the worst one-year decline since 1946, compared to a 0.4-per- cent gain in 2008. The Commerce Department attributed the fourth-quarter rise to private company inventories, rising consumer demand and exports. It marks the best growth rate since the third quarter of 2003. US President Barack Obama hopes the faster recovery will fuel new hiring by businesses. The unemployment rate is stuck at 10 per cent, its highest level in a quarter century, putting the administration under pressure to take more steps to create jobs. Speaking in Baltimore, Maryland, Obama said the quarterly growth estimate "affirms our progress and the swift and aggressive actions that made it possible," but he acknowledged job growth was "lagging" behind in the recovery. Obama proposed new tax incentives designed to translate the new- found growth in economic output into new hiring, offering businesses 5,000 dollars for every job created in 2010, up to a maximum 500,000 dollars for the year. "Now is the perfect time for this kind of incentive, because the economy is growing, but businesses are still hesitant to start hiring again," Obama said. The fourth-quarter growth figure is the first of three estimates by the Commerce Department over the coming weeks. Consumer spending climbed 2 per cent, while shifting private inventories contributed a massive 3.4 per cent to the quarterly growth rate. US exports surged 18.1 per cent.
