The US economy shrank 3.8 percent at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year, the weakest quarterly showing since the first quarter of 1982, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.

The fourth-quarter pace was much worse than the 0.5 percent decline logged in the third quarter but slightly better than the 5.4 percent decrease economists expected.

The report provided clear evidence that the world's largest economy has been hit badly by the still ongoing housing, credit and financial crises.

For all of 2008, the US economy grew by just 1.3 percent. That was down from a 2 percent gain in 2007 and marked the slowest growth since the last recession in 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2009)