According to government officials, the economy contracted at an alarming 6.2 percent during the last quarter of 2008 -- the worst showing in 26 years.
The Commerce Department released the revised gross domestic product (GDP) number on Friday, showing that the national economy deteriorated much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop that was estimated last month. The revision was nearly five times as large as the average adjustment, the Commerce Department said. And according to an _""Associated Press"":http://www.ap.org_ report, the new number was almost a full mark higher than the 5.4 percent decline economists were expecting.
The worsening conditions are being attributed to sharp pull-backs in spending at the end of last year by both consumers and businesses, plunging the country deeper into recession. _AP_ said that looking ahead, economists predict continued retractions in spending, making the first six months of this year especially rocky.
The _""Wall Street Journal"":http://www.wsj.com_ reported that the National Association of Business Economics sees another 5.0 percent contraction in GDP for the first quarter of this year and a 1.7 percent drop in the second quarter.
Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services Inc. in Boston, said in an interview with _""Bloomberg Television"":http://www.bloomberg.com_, ""There has been no evidence that the pace of decline is slowing at all."" Cheney said President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package will ""kick in"" in mid-2009 at the earliest.