The US economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.7% in the second quarter of the year, the Commerce Department has said.

美国商务部称，今年第二季度美国经济以年均1.7%的步伐增长。

That was a faster pace than expected by economists.

It was also up from the growth rate for the first three months of 2013, which was revised lower to 1.1% from 1.8%.

A slowdown was widely expected due to the impact of federal spending cuts, but also from the continuing weakness in the global economy.

In March, $85bn of public spending was cut as a result of a deal between Democrat and Republican politicians.

But the Commerce Department said that the federal government cut spending by only 1.5% in the April-to-June period, compared with a sharp drop of 8.4% in the first quarter.

The US economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter compared with the previous three months. That compares to 0.6% growth in the UK in the same period.

The eurozone's GDP figures are released on 14 August. The 18-member region shrank 0.2% in the first quarter - the sixth quarter of decline in a row.