PORTLAND, Maine - Maine's economy grew sluggishly in the fourth quarter of 2015. Statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis - or BEA - show the state's Gross Domestic Product grew at a 1.3 percent annual rate during the last three months of the year.
That figure lagged the overall U.S. growth rate of 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter, and was below the New England average growth rate of 2.1 percent.
The figures also indicate that Maine's economy slowed from the third quarter, when its growth rate was 2.1 percent. According to a BEA release, the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is "calculated as the sum of what consumers, businesses, and government spend on final goods and services, plus investment and net foreign trade."
The BEA figures for Maine show that construction was the biggest driver of GDP growth in the fourth quarter, responsible for more than a quarter of the overall increase. Several sectors held down Maine's fourth quarter economic growth: utilities, finance and insurance, transportation, the arts, and government.
The fastest growing state in the fourth quarter was Indiana. Its GDP grew at a 3 percent annual rate. By contrast, Wyoming's output shrank at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, owing to a big drop in mining.
The New England state with the fastest growing GDP in the fourth quarter was Massachusetts, with a 2.6 percent growth rate. The slowest-growing New England state was New Hampshire. Its GDP grew at just a 1.2 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2015.
