U.S. Gross Domestic Product Shrinks at Fastest Rate in 5 Years

(ALLGOV.com) Without sounding alarmist, the federal government announced this week that the economy nosedived during the first quarter of this year. The drop caught economists off-guard, but didn’t produce warnings of another recession.

From January to March, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) took a big step backwards, contracting at an annual rate of 2.9%. The decline was the sharpest in five years, going back to the 5.4% drop during the first three months of 2009.

Experts did expect some economic shrinkage during the period, but the estimates pegged it at only 1%.

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