U.S. economic growth in Q4 unrevised at 1.9 pct

U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year was left unchanged at 1.9 percent, with stronger personal consumption offsetting the negative contribution from exports, according to the second estimate released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.

The 1.9 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter represents a considerable drop from the 3.5 percent increase in the previous quarter.

The Commerce Department said that the deceleration primarily reflected a downturn in exports, an acceleration in imports and drop in federal government spending.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, increased 3 percent in the quarter, an upward revision from 2.5 percent increase in the initial estimate.

Due to the U.S. dollar appreciation in the last few months of 2016, exports dropped 4 percent in the fourth quarter, while imports surged 8.5 percent in the quarter. Net exports subtracted 1.7 percentage point from the GDP growth in the quarter.

For the whole 2016, the U.S. economy grew 1.6 percent, the slowest expansion since 2011, after increasing 2.6 percent in 2015.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently told local media that the administration is expected to boost the economy to grow over 3 percent with support from tax cuts and regulatory relief. He said that the impact from tax and regulation cuts would emerge from the end of 2018. Endi