The US Department of Commerce announced on the 27th that the U.S. real gross national product (GDP) in the second quarter (April-June) increased by 2.4% on an annual basis compared to the previous quarter.
The economic growth rate in the second quarter reached a positive 2.4% due to the annual rate conversion, which is better than 2.0% in the first quarter (January to March). This is an improvement that meets market expectations. Two days ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised up the U.S. economy by 0.2 percentage points to grow 1.8 percent this year in its latest economic outlook for this year.
The U.S. economy grew 2.1 percent last year. However, in the final fourth quarter, the annual rate was 2.6%, which was above the average, but the first and second quarters of this year failed to catch up.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending, non-residential fixed investment and government spending contributed to GDP expansion in the second quarter, while sluggish exports cut points.
The US real GDP is based on 2012 prices in consideration of changes in inflation, and the nominal GDP, which applies the current inflation rate without such inflation adjustment, rose 6.1% annually in the first quarter and 4.7% in the second quarter. U.S. consumer price inflation stood at 3% as of June.
The annual conversion of nominal GDP in the U.S. in the second quarter amounted to $26.84 trillion.
Earlier, China said it grew 6.3% year-on-year in the second quarter and grew 3.2% year-on-year in the previous quarter, as in the United States. As such, the annual growth rate of 2.4% in the second quarter of the U.S. is considerable. Compared to the previous quarter before the annual rate conversion, China grew 0.8%, and the U.S. grew 0.6%.
The U.S. quarterly growth rate comes out a month after the quarter’s closing, followed by a midpoint a month later. In the first quarter, it was confirmed, changing from 1.1% to 1.3% and 2.0%.
