The US economy grew at an annual pace of 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2007, slightly faster than earlier estimates but still the slowest in more than four years, government data showed Thursday. Consumer spending kept the world's largest economy from slowing still more as the US housing market slump and rising imports held back growth, the Commerce Department said. In the last quarter of 2006, growth was 2.5 per cent, dpa reported. First-quarter growth in gross domestic product was revised upward from an 0.6-per-cent annual pace in Thursday's final report for the period. The US economy grew by 3.3 per cent for all of 2006 and 3.2 per cent in 2005.
