WASHINGTON, March 27: The US economy grew at a tepid 0.6 per cent annual pace in the fourth quarter of last year, the government said on Thursday in a final unrevised reading.

The final estimate on fourth-quarter growth confirmed that the world’s largest economy slowed markedly during the last three months of 2007 compared with a blistering 4.9 per cent clip in the third quarter.

Most economists had expected the Commerce Department to leave gross domestic product (GDP) growth unrevised at 0.6 per cent.

Economic output moderated in the fourth quarter amid a widespread housing market downturn and as a related credit squeeze in the US banking system broadened in the final months of last year.—AFP