ABJ - June 7 - Real gross domestic product (GDP) – the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States – increased at an annual rate of 1.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, according to the second estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2011, real GDP increased three per cent.

The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, residential fixed investment, private inventory investment, and non-residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

Motor vehicle output added 1.12 percentage points to the first quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.47 per cent to the fourth quarter change.

The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 2.4 per cent in the first quarter, after increasing 1.1 per cent in the previous quarter. Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.3 per cent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 1.2 percent in the fourth.