GDP growth below expectations in fourth quarter of 2018

Gross Domestic Product grew at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, the Commerce Department announced Friday.

The growth rate was below economists projections of about 3 percent.

The U.S. economy grew 2.3 percent in 2018, as growth slowed in fourth quarter

Washington Post

The U.S. gross domestic product, a broad measure of the economy, increased by 2.3 percent in 2017, federal economists reported Friday.

GDP growth slowed in the year’s fourth quarter to an annualized rate of 2.6, breaking a two-quarter streak of growth of more than 3 percent.

The economy grew far faster in 2018 than during the year before, but the slowed fourth quarter growth underscores the challenge President Trump’s administration will have in delivering the growth rates he has promised. Officials had focused on 3 percent GDP growth as proof his economic policies were working, and Trump has said it could go far beyond that target.

Trump and Republicans are counting on massive economic growth to prevent the more than $1.5 trillion in tax cuts Trump signed into law in December from adding to the deficit, though that would require growth far beyond the 3 percent target.

The U.S. economy grew 1.5 percent in 2016 and 2.9 percent in 2017. It has grown every year since 2009, when it shrank 2.8 percent.