**The US economy grew by 5.7% between October and December, official figures have shown.**The number, which is a first estimate, is a big rise from the previous quarter’s growth rate of 2.2%.
It suggests the country’s economy is growing at its fastest pace for six years and confirms the US economy has left its year-long recession behind.
But even with the rebound, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 2.4% across 2009 as a whole.
That was the worst annual performance since 1946.
US GDP is expressed as an annualised rate, or annual pace, which shows what the annual rate would be if the latest change continued for the rest of the year.