badly. the data however paints a different picture. the us economy grew 2% in the first three months of this year. that is almost double initial estimates. consumers spend more, exports held up and prospect for the second quarter also look better with the housing market focused on recovery and subsidies for semiconductor and electric car parts beginning to kick in. the challenge for america s central bank is to keep inflation trending down. data due out later this friday from the us commerce department is likely to confirm prices are cooling. but with inflation still stubbornly hire, policymakers here as in many other developed economies are not done raising interest rates. susannah streeter is senior investment analyst at hargreaves la nsdown. susannah, biden is obviously on a re election campaign. but if we look at his economic track record as president, how successful have his policies been? well, the problem that the us has faced, as have other economies around the world
badly. the data however paints a different picture. the us economy grew 2% in the first three months of this year. that is almost double initial estimates. consumers spend more, exports held up and prospect for the second quarter also look better with the housing market focused on recovery and subsidies for semiconductor and electric car parts beginning to kick in. the challenge for america s central bank is to keep inflation trending down. data due out later this friday from the us commerce department is likely to confirm prices are cooling. but with inflation still stubbornly hire, policymakers here as in many other developed economies are not done raising interest rates. susannah streeter is senior investment analyst at hargreaves la nsdown. susannah, biden is obviously on a re election campaign. but if we look at his economic track record as president, how successful have his policies been?
well, the problem that the us has faced, as have other economies around the world of course, has been hit by these inflationary shocks. they have mainly been external, but of course, have been pent up demand which has come out of the pandemic as well. so coping with that at the same time is also trying to ensure that there is growth for the future, but has been an extremely tricky balance, and of course coming out of the pandemic we have seen this huge stimulus plan biden has put in place called the inflation reduction act that essentially has been concerned that that could fuel inflation. as you say, we have seen some of these subsidies for electric vehicles now kick in, but at the same time, the central bank has really been desperate to bring down inflation because of its effect on the economy. it is actually managing to do that faster than in other economies such as in