The US economy expanded at a higher rate than previously estimated in the first quarter, data showed on Thursday, with a downward estimate of imports boosting the figures.

Gross domestic product in the world's largest economy rose at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the first three months of the year, the country's Commerce Department said in its third estimate of growth data.

Its previous estimate had put growth at 1.6 percent, and the new figures were more in line with the government's first estimate of two percent growth in the first quarter.

The new revision was "primarily reflecting a downward revision to imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, that was partly offset by a downward revision to consumer spending," the Commerce Department said.

Overall contributors to the increase in real GDP included investment, exports, government spending and consumer spending.

Among the biggest contributors to the increase was information services, which includes parts of the burgeoning AI industry that has powered recent US growth. (AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam