Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the “initial” estimates of the National Income and Product Accounts, released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.4%.

In 2018 real GDP increased 2.9% compared with an increase of 2.2% in 2017.

The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, private inventory investment, and federal government spending. These contributions were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.