US real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the second estimate of GDP growth released today by the US Commerce Department. The new estimate is up from the “advance” estimate, which pegged growth at 2.9%.

In the second quarter, real GDP advanced 1.4%.

The economy grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in the third quarter, as consumers and government stepped up their spending and exports surged, MarketWatch reported. It beat the consensus estimate of a 3.1% growth rate among economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, also commented on the GDP estimate in a blog post:

“Third-quarter economic growth was revised up 0.3 percentage point to 3.2% at an annual rate, a noticeably faster pace than in the first half of the year,” Furman wrote. “Exports, which have faced substantial headwinds in recent years from slow growth abroad, grew at an annual rate of 10.1% in the third quarter, boosted in part by transitory factors. Consumer spending continued to grow at a solid pace in the third quarter, while inventory investment (one of the most volatile components of GDP) boosted GDP growth after subtracting from it in the prior five quarters. Third-quarter growth in the most stable and persistent components of output — consumption and fixed investment — was revised up to 2.1%.”