US economy weaker than expected

New figures from the United States suggest the American economy has slowed more sharply than expected.

The gross domestic product -- the total output of goods and services produced within the US -- grew at an annual rate of one-point-one per-cent in the final quarter of last year.

In an unusual step, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, has revised the testimony on the economy he gave to a Senate Committee two weeks ago.

He told the House of Representatives today that the slowdown that began last year had yet to run its full course.

He also suggested that consumer confidence in the United States had fallen. The BBC Economics correspondent says the more pessimistic tone of today's speech will further fuel speculation of interest rates cuts.

Mr Greenspan's comments came as President George W Bush prepared for a tour of American states to sell his tax cut proposals -- of one-point-six-trillion dollars over the next ten years.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service