Washington, March 27 (IANS): US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual pace of 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third and final estimate of the economy's performance during the final three months of 2014, Efe news agency reported.

The final figure is unchanged from the second estimate, which saw a downward revision from the initial reading of 2.6 percent growth, and confirms that the economy slowed considerably after expanding in the second and third quarters by 4.6 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Consumer expending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, increased 4.4 percent between October and December, two-tenths above the previous estimates.

But that was not enough to counter an increase in imports, cuts in federal government spending and a smaller expansion of business inventories, the report said.

The second and third quarters of 2014 represent the US economy's best six-month period since 2003.

Overall GDP growth in 2014 was 2.4 percent, following 2.2 percent growth in 2013 and 2.3 percent in 2012, the Commerce Department said.

Analysts expect the slowdown reflected in the October-December figure will extend into the first quarter of 2015 as a result of an unusually harsh winter.

But most forecasts call for a rebound that will allow the US economy to grow by more than 3 percent in 2015.

In January, the International Monetary Fund raised its projection for US GDP growth this year to 3.6 percent.