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Real GDP in U.S. grows 2.2 pct in 4Q 2014 -- estimates

WASHINGTON, March 27 (KUNA) -- Real gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States increased 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the third estimate released on Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The growth rate was the same in the second estimate released in February. In the third quarter of last year, real GDP in the United States increased five percent.
"This estimate of fourth-quarter GDP affirms the robust underlying growth of the largest and most stable components of economic output, while the same volatile factors that increased growth in the third quarter subtracted from it in the fourth," Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement released by the White House.
Indeed, the sum of private consumption and fixed investment rose at the fastest pace in four years, despite the lower rate of overall growth, he said.
Personal consumption expenditures, which account for more than two thirds of output, grew 4.4 percent at an annual rate in the fourth quarter-the fastest single quarter since 2006, he noted.
Despite the solid trend, the economy faces headwinds from weak growth abroad - as well as the lingering effects of winter weather - that economists generally expect to reduce GDP growth temporarily in the first quarter of 2015, he made clear. (end) rm.hm