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US growth faster than expected

Many economists don’t expect economic growth to improve much at the start of next year.TANNEN MAURY/EPA

WASHINGTON — The US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent over the summer as exports increased, consumers spent more, and state and local governments added to growth for the first time in three years. But the economy is probably slowing in the current quarter.

The Commerce Department's third and final estimate Thursday of growth for the July-September quarter was revised up from its previous estimate of a 2.7 percent annual growth rate.

Growth in the third quarter was more than twice the 1.3 percent growth rate in the April-June quarter. But disruptions from Hurricane Sandy and uncertainty weighing on consumers and businesses from thefiscal cliff are probably holding back growth in the October-December quarter. Many analysts predict an annual growth rate of just 1.5 percent for this quarter.

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Robert Kavcic, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the upward revision to third-quarter growth didn't change his view that the economy is slowing in the current quarter to an annual growth rate below 2 percent. Kavcic said a temporary jump in defense spending and business stockpiling in the July-September period is probably being reversed this quarter.

And many economists aren't expecting much improvement in the January-March quarter. The latest forecast from 48 economists for the National Association of Business Economics is for an annual growth rate of just 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013. Growth at that level is considered too weak to significantly lower the unemployment rate, which was 7.7 percent in November.

But if Congress and the White House reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, growth could accelerate next year, many economists, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, have said. The Fed lsaid last week it plans to keep a key interest rate at a record low as long as unemployment remains above 6.5 percent. And it forecast unemployment would stay that high until late 2015.

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The government's final estimate of a 3.1 percent growth rate for gross domestic product last quarter is a sharp improvement over its initial estimate of a 2 percent rate — a figure that it later revised up to 2.7 percent based on a buildup in business stockpiles.