WASHINGTON, March 28 -- The U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 was slightly revised up to an annual rate of 3.4 percent in the third and final estimate, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday.

In the advance estimate released in late January, the increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter was 3.3 percent. In the second estimate released in late February, it was revised down to 3.2 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending, state and local government spending, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a decrease in private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

In the third quarter of 2023, real GDP increased 4.9 percent. Compared to the third quarter, the deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and slowdowns in federal government spending and residential fixed investment.

Real GDP increased 2.5 percent in 2023.

According to the Federal Reserve's latest quarterly summary of economic projections released earlier March, Fed officials' median projection for GDP in 2024 is 2.1 percent, up from 1.4 percent in the December projection.

  - Xinhua