The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the first estimation of the U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday, putting the annual growth for 2021 at 5.7 percent, the highest since 1984.

Analysts pointed out that the better-than-expected growth rate, considering the 2.3 percent growth in the third quarter, is a result of several reasons.

The prolonged supply chain crisis prompted consumers to shop for the New Year in advance to avoid delivery delay, which greatly increased consumption and expenditure. The Delta variant-fueled COVID-19 surge and surging demand blocked logistics, delaying large stocks of commodities until after the holiday, leading to inventory surges among wholesalers and retailers at the end of last year.

Another reason is that the U.S. GDP decreased 3.4 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic, laying a comparatively low base. In addition, the ultra-loose monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve has also played a strong role in promoting the economic recovery.

However, analysts and economists have generally lowered expectations of the economic growth in the first quarter and the whole year of 2022.

In the World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) set the economic growth expectation for the U.S. in 2022 at 4 percent, down by 1.2 percentage points compared with last October’s report, the largest reduction among all developed economic entities.

With chip shortages worsening, and the large disruptions in demand and supply due to the impact of Omicron variant, the economic growth is poised to slow fairly dramatically in the first quarter, according to Diane Swonk, chief economist at major accounting firm Grant Thornton.

The U.S. Department of Commerce usually estimates quarterly economic data three times on the basis of continuously updated information, and the second correction of economic data for the fourth quarter of 2021 will be released on February 24.