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Jun 25, 2009, 13:23 GMT

(eca124) US economy tumbled by 5.5 per cent in first quarter (Refile)

Washington - The US economy shrank 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, according to a final estimate by the US Commerce Department Thursday that confirms the worst six-month stretch in five decades. The department's final figure was improved slightly from a previous estimate of a 5.7-per-cent contraction. Yet the massive drop still keeps the United States in its longest recession since the Great Depression. The world's largest economy shrank 6.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008. Economists are divided over whether the recession that began in December 2007 will end some time this year or the start of 2010. Plunging exports, manufacturing, housing construction and company inventories fuelled the declines in the economy over the first three months of the year. Consumer demand, which makes up about two-thirds of US output, actually increased 1.4 per cent after plummeting 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its key interest rate at an unprecedented low of 0 per cent to help revive the country's economy.

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