United States GDP rises 5.7pc in fourth quarter of 2009

AMERICAN exports increased 18 per cent in the fourth quarter, driving a 5.7 per cent increase in America`s gross domestic product in the last quarter, said the US Commerce Department.
"The acceleration in GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected an acceleration in private inventory investment, a deceleration in imports, and an upturn in non-residential fixed investment," said the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
The government also said real private inventories contracted US$33.5 billion in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, but that was far less than the $139.2 billion inventory retrenchment in the third quarter and the $160.2 billion decrease in the second quarter.