US economy grows at fastest pace in decades

The US economy expanded at its fastest rate in decades last year as it roared back from pandemic lockdowns.

Official figures from the Commerce Department showed the economy grew by 5.7% – its best performance since 1984.

But analysts are expecting growth to slow this year, as the government scales back stimulus spending and the Federal Reserve raises interest rates.

Other risks include high inflation and threats from new Covid variants, such as Omicron.

The World Bank is predicting the US economy will grow by 3.7% this year, in line with other forecasts.

“The Omicron wave means the economy is starting 2022 on a much weaker footing and we expect growth to disappoint over the rest of this year too,” said Andrew Hunter, senior US economist at Capital Economics.

Consumer spending and government stimulus helped power the rebound from 2020, when gross domestic product contracted by 3.4% as the pandemic struck.

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