 Growth did slow sharply and was “about as weak as it could be without falling into recession.” ECRI “had predicted that the final six months of 2012 would register contraction.The first estimate of GDP growth came in at 1 ½% (that is, at an annual rate of 1 ½%).The fifth revision to that initial estimate, unveiled in July, pushed down the measured rate of growth to a quarter of 1%, about as close to shrinkage as a positive growth figure can be."