Economy grew by 2.9 percent in 2018, strongest since 2015
by Colin Wilhelm
| February 28, 2019 08:32 AM
The economy grew at by 2.9 percent in 2018, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday morning in its quarterly report on Gross Domestic Product.
The figure, an average of the economy's growth over the course of the year, fell just shy of President Trump’s stated goal of 3 percent growth.
In one way of looking at the data, though, growth did beat Trump's 3 percent goal. Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of 2017, the economy grew 3.1 percent.
Thursday's report showed GDP growing at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2018 to bring total growth for the year to the 2.9 percent figure, better than analysts expected but down from 3.4 percent in the previous quarter. Household consumption and government spending, affected by the shutdown, slowed in the fourth quarter, but exports and business investment picked up.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/economy-grew-by-2-9-percent-in-2018-strongest-since-2015
