The US economy grew at a slightly faster pace than previously estimated in the three months to September, revised figures by the Commerce Department showed.

Real gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the nation’s total output of goods and services, increased at a 2.3 per cent annualised rate in the third quarter.

While that was a slight improvement over the previous estimate of 2.1 per cent, it still marked the slowest rate of growth since the second quarter of 2020, when the economy suffered a historic contraction as lockdowns brought the country to a virtual standstill.

The economy grew at a brisk 6.3 per cent annualised rate in the first quarter of this year and 6.7 per cent in the second quarter, as COVID-19 restrictions were scaled back. But the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus during the summer dampened the recovery in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, German consumer confidence is expected to fall sharply in January due to COVID-19 restrictions amid the fourth wave of the pandemic and rising inflation, survey results from market research group GfK showed this week. Consumer confidence, a forward-looking indicator, fell to -6.8 in January from -1.8 in December.

Economists expected a reading of -2.7. Rolf Bürkel, consumer expert at GfK, said that the fourth wave of the Corona pandemic with more restrictions, as well as significantly increased prices, are increasingly affecting the consumer climate.

The outlook for the start of next year is also weak on the back of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, Bürkel added.

The survey showed that economic expectations, income expectations and propensity to buy declined significantly in December.

Finally, in the UK, figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday show that the government deficit stood at £17.4 billion in November. While that is the second highest amount for that month since records began in 1993, it is down by £4.9 billion in November of last year.

However, it was wider than economists’ average predictions of £16 billion. Current receipts grew by 4.3 per cent on a yearly basis, while expenditure decreased by 6.9 per cent. Public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, stood at £2.3 trillion at the end of November. That is around 96.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio since March 1963.

This article has been prepared by Bank of Valletta plc and is for general information purposes only