Oops. When US president Donald Trump swept to power two years ago, he announced that there was no reason why his administration could not deliver as much as a “4 per cent, 5 per cent, and even 6 per cent” growth rate.
On Thursday, however, the US government revealed that lofty goal is still a mirage: its initial estimate for 2018 fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth was just 2.6 per cent, down from previous quarters.
To be fair, this was slightly better than market predictions, and left the economy expanding by 2.9 per cent during 2018. That is perfectly respectable by the standards of recent American history, let alone for the western world. Italy, say, would be thrilled if it could deliver this figure.
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