U.S. economic growth slowed to an annualized rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter of the year, down from an initial estimate of 2.2 percent, revised figures from the Commerce Department showed Thursday.
The level was in line with economists' expectations, but lower than the 3-percent growth in the fourth quarter last year.
The deceleration primarily reflected a slowdown in private inventory investment, an increase in imports, and a drop in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by accelerations in exports and in personal consumption expenditures, the Commerce Department said.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, grew by a 2.7 percent annual rate, compared with an increase of 2.1 percent in the previous quarter./.