The world's largest economy, witnessing relatively slower recovery, had expanded 3 per cent in 2011 December quarter.
"Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labour and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2012," the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said in a statement today.
The advanced growth estimate is lower than the widely expected expansion rate of about 2.5 per cent and above for the 2012 March quarter.
"The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected a deceleration in private inventory investment and a downturn in non-residential fixed investment...," it noted.
As per official data, real non-residential fixed investment dropped 2.1 per cent in the quarter under review whereas the same had increased 5.2 per cent in the 2011 December quarter.
However, real personal consumption expenditures rose 2.9 per cent in the 2012 March quarter compared to 2.1 per cent increase in the previous three months.
In terms of current-dollar GDP, the American economy was worth USD 15.46 trillion at the end of March quarter.
