US economic growth up sharply in third quarter
Mr Obama and Mr Romney have clashed on the health of the US economy The US economy grew in the three months to September, official figures showed.
The world's largest economy expanded at an annualised rate of 2% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said, more than had been expected.
The US has now been growing for more than three years, since June 2009.
The figures are the last set of important economic data before the US presidential election between Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney on 6 November.
With more than 20 million Americans unemployed and a huge public deficit, the economy has become one of the central issues of the campaign.
The economy grew by 1.3% in the previous quarter.
Economic fightMr Romney has repeatedly challenged President Obama's record, saying ''we have not made the progress we need to make''.
"If the president were re-elected, we'd go to almost $20 trillion of national debt. This puts us on a road to Greece," Mr Romney said during the second presidential debate.
Mr Obama replied that his opponent did not have a five-point plan to fix the economy, but ''a one-point plan''.
But last month, the US unemployment rate fell to 7.8%, down from 8.1%, its lowest since both January 2009 and under the current president's term in office.
To help get the US economy back on track, the US Federal Reserve in September restarted its policy of pumping money into the economy via quantitative easing. The Fed pledged to buy $40bn (£25bn) of mortgage debt a month, with the aim of reducing long-term borrowing costs for firms and households.
The US states its growth in annualised terms, meaning that its quarterly growth rate is extrapolated as if it was growing at that pace for the whole year.
Source : bbc[dot]co[dot]uk
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