
Washington (CNN)In a Wednesday appearance on the ABC late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," President Joe Biden made a dramatic claimabout the US economy -- and repeated himself for emphasis.
"Look, here's where we are. We have the fastest-growing economy in the world. The world. The world," Biden said.
Facts First: Biden's claim is false. The US economy grew by 5.7% in 2021, but more than 50 other countries had faster growth that year, figurespublished by the International Monetary Fund show; many of them are small or developing countries, but some of them are large or wealthy. In addition, the US economy shrank in the first quarter of 2022, while various other countries experienced growth. And while economic experts expect the US economy to resume growing over the rest of this year, a significant number of other countries are expected to grow faster.
Asked for comment on Friday, a White House official did not attempt to specifically defend Biden's claim that the US has the fastest-growing economy in the world.
Instead, the official pointed out that the 5.7% growth in the United States' real gross domestic product in 2021 was the fastest for the country since 1984. The official also pointed out that the International Monetary Fund has projected that, as of the fourth quarter of this year, the size of the US economy will be bigger relative to its late-2019 pre-pandemic level than any of the other six countries in the international forum known as the Group of Seven: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.