Warsaw, Poland, January 24, 2006--Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told a meeting with U.S. investors during his visit to Poland, the U.S. economy should keep on growing at around 3.5 percent a year after expanding by some 3.6 percent in 2005.
The figures were slightly stronger than earlier official forecasts.
Gutierrez said "The U.S. economy grew about 3.6 percent last year; that is over twice as fast as the European Union."
He said, "We believe that we can continue to grow at 3.5 percent."
The White House projected last month that the world's biggest economy would grow by 3.4 percent this year after an estimated 3.5 percent expansion in 2005.
Gutierrez said fast growing economies such as the United States or Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, posed a challenge to the rest of the 25-nation bloc and an incentive to seek ways to unleash its full growth potential.
On Monday, private research group the Conference Board said its key gauge of future U.S. economic growth rose for the third consecutive month in December suggesting a strong start to 2006, though it said growth could become choppy later in the year.
