Official figures show that the US economy grew slightly faster than initially thought in the first quarter of 2008.
Gross domestic product, grew at a 1% annual pace in the first three months, in line with economists' forecasts and a touch stronger than the 0.9% estimated by the Commerce Department last month.
The figure was initially reported in April at just 0.6%, fuelling concerns that the US economy may be slipping into recession. But those concerns have subsided as fresh data showed healthier growth, particularly in consumer spending and exports.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of national economic activity, rose at a 1.1% rate in the quarter, slightly ahead of the preliminary estimate of 1% last month. Despite that upward revision, consumer spending posted its smallest gain since the second quarter of 2001, which was during the last recession.
Prices continued to rise in the first quarter. The price index for gross domestic purchases, a closely watched measure of inflation, rose at a 3.6% annual rate, up 0.1 percentage points from the preliminary estimate.
The report also showed that exports, which have been among the few bright spots in the economy, rose 5.4%, which was much better than the estimate of 2.8% in May.
