The US Department of Commerce reported Friday that real gross domestic product in the US-the output of goods and services produced by labor and property-increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in Q1 2013 from Q4 2012 according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In Q4, real GDP increased 0.4 percent.
The Bureau emphasized that the Q1 advance estimate released Friday is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The second estimate for the first quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on May 30, 2013.
The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, exports, residential investment, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.