Real GDP for the second quarter grew at an annual rate of 3.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s second estimate. This is an upward revision from the initial second quarter estimate of 2.3 percent, and well above the first quarter’s rate of 0.6 percent. The acceleration in growth reflected acceleration in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), as well as an increase in government spending and net exports.
Consumption was the largest contributor to GDP, accounting for 2.1 percent of the 3.7 percent growth in the second quarter, up from 1.2 percent in the first. The growth in consumption was driven by an increase in durable goods spending, which rose by 8.2 percent in the second quarter.
Exports of goods and services which had declined 6.0 percent in the first quarter grew 5.2 percent in the second, as the growth rate of imports slowed from 7.1 percent to 2.8 percent. Overall, net exports contributed 0.2 percent to GDP in the second quarter, in contrast to a 1.9 percent drag in the first.
Government expenditures increased by 2.6 percent, after contracting by 0.1 percent in the first. The majority of the spending increase was from state and local governments, which increased spending by 4.3 percent. Government spending accounted for 13 percent of GDP growth in the second quarter, up from 4 percent in the first.
Read the BEA release.
