BEA Releases Final Estimate of First Quarter GDP (April 2019)

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019 according to the ""advance"" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2018 real GDP increased 2.2 percent. The increase in real GDP in the first quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE) private inventory investment exports state and local government spending and nonresidential fixed investment. Imports which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP decreased. These contributions were partly offset by a decrease in residential investment.

The acceleration in real GDP growth in the first quarter reflected an upturn in state and local government spending accelerations in private inventory investment and in exports and a smaller decrease in residential investment. These movements were partly offset by decelerations in PCE and nonresidential fixed investment and a downturn in federal government spending. Imports which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP turned down.