Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, according to advance estimates released yesterday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP decreased 6.3%.
The decrease primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, private inventory investment, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a positive contribution from personal consumption expenditures, Commerce said. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The slightly smaller decrease in real GDP in the first quarter than in the fourth reflected an upturn in PCE for durable and nondurable goods and a larger decrease in imports. These were mostly offset by larger decreases in private inventory investment and in nonresidential structures and a downturn in federal government spending.
The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, decreased 1.0% in the first quarter, compared with a decrease of 3.9% in the fourth.
