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US economy booms

Jan 29 2010

US economy storms ahead

While Britain’s growth remains anaemic, America’s economy is storming ahead with an increase in GDP of 5.7 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2009, according to official figures.

This was the quickest pace of growth in six years and was significantly higher than the 2.2 per cent growth seen in the third quarter and the consensus expectation of 4.7 per cent for the fourth quarter.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, says: ‘This was quite surprising. We were expecting a strong growth figure, but not one as strong as that. The US has always had a more dynamic economy than ours, as it is much more competitive. These figures will be good news for UK exporters.’

Britain emerged from the recession with growth of 0.1 per cent for the last three months of 2009.

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