The US economy grew by a strong 5.7 percent last year, the strongest since 1984. The Department of Commerce announced this on Thursday in Washington based on an initial estimate. The growth was particularly driven by increased consumer spending, fixed asset investment, exports and investment in inventories, it said. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the world's largest economy rose to around 22.99 trillion US dollars. In 2020, the US economy collapsed due to the Corona crisis, with GDP shrinking by 3.5 percent at the time. In 1984 growth was 7.2 percent.

Economic growth over the past year has been roughly in line with analyst and government expectations.

The Ministry of Finance had expected growth of 5.3 percent for 2021, the Federal Reserve (Fed) expected 5.5 percent in its December forecast.

In the current year, according to many analysts, growth is likely to weaken to 3 to 4 percent.

The reasons given for this are ongoing disruptions in global supply chains and the foreseeable tighter monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve.

The inflation rate is worrying

The Department of Commerce also said that in the fourth quarter of 2021, the US economy grew by an annualized 6.9 percent – ​​the increase was last this high in the fourth quarter of 1972. Here, too, increased investment in inventories and consumer spending had an impact . Because American growth figures are annualized, they are not directly comparable to European data. The data of the first estimate can also be slightly corrected later.

The US economy has largely left the Corona crisis behind, also thanks to government stimulus packages worth billions.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in December.

Many companies are already complaining about a lack of applicants.

Before the Corona crisis, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, the lowest level in decades.

However, the inflation rate, which has been very high for months, is causing concern for economists and politicians.

Consumer prices were up 7 percent in December compared to a year earlier.

That was the highest value in decades.

In order to curb inflation, the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates several times this year.

However, this should also slow down growth.

The first interest rate hike since the beginning of the pandemic is likely to take place at the next meeting of the central bank council on March 16.

Thanks to the strong economic development, there is "some leeway" to raise the key interest rate without endangering the good development on the labor market, said central bank chief Jerome Powell on Wednesday.

The US economy “no longer needs sustained high support from monetary policy,” he stressed.

The Fed is therefore planning to let its multi-billion dollar asset purchase aid program expire at the beginning of March as planned.

In the course of the year, the Fed's balance sheet, which has swollen to almost nine trillion US dollars as a result of crisis programs, is also to be reduced, which would further withdraw liquidity from the markets.

According to a Fed forecast from December, up to three rate hikes are to be expected by the end of the year.

The markets are now even expecting four tightenings by a total of one percentage point.