The US economy grew robustly in the fourth quarter, the government confirmed on Wednesday, but momentum has slowed significantly amid a surge in Covid-19 infections at the start of the year, snarled supply chains and soaring inflation.

Gross domestic product increased at a 6.9 per cent annualised rate, the commerce department said in its third estimate of fourth quarter GDP growth. That was revised down from the 7.0 per cent pace estimated in February.

The economy grew at a 2.3 per cent rate in the third quarter. Growth is 3.1 per cent above its pre-pandemic level. Economists polled by Reuters had expected GDP growth would be revised up to a 7.1 per cent rate. The revision to the fourth quarter GDP reading reflected downgrades to consumer spending and export growth.

For all of 2021, the economy grew 5.7 per cent, the strongest since 1984, after the government provided nearly $6 trillion in pandemic relief. It contracted 3.4 per cent in 2020, the biggest drop in 74 years.