The US government announced that the national economy saw modest growth of 0.7% during the last quarter of 2025, a notable decline from initial expectations.
Growth in GDP – which represents the country’s total production of goods and services – has slowed significantly, falling from 4.4% in the third quarter of last year and 3.8% in the second quarter.
The fourth-quarter figure was less than half the government’s initial estimate of 1.4%, while economists had expected a revision in the opposite direction, meaning stronger growth.
Federal government spending and investment, which were severely affected by the shutdown, fell by 16.7%, reducing growth by 1.16 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
Over the whole of 2025, GDP registered growth of 2.1%, which is good growth but lower than the initial estimate of 2.2% and from 2.8% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2023.
In the fourth quarter, consumer spending grew by 2%, down from 3.5% in the third quarter, and from the 2.4% that the government initially expected.
Business investment, excluding the housing sector, saw a notable growth of 2.2%, which likely reflects the injection of money into the field of artificial intelligence, but this increase was less than the 3.2% in the third quarter and less than the 3.7% that the Ministry of Commerce initially expected.
