The United States economy expanded by 5.7% in 2021, the strongest annual growth since 1984, but in a sharp reversal it contracted 1.5% in the first quarter of 2022. Although the overall economy is expected to resume modest growth in the second quarter of 2022 and beyond owing to robust consumer spending and a strong labour market, risks to the economic outlook are rising. Inflation is at a 40-year high, and the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates at the most aggressive pace since the 1980s. The United States economic outlook: 2021 year-in-review and first quarter of 2022 presents and analyses the main economic developments in the period and examines how they could affect financial conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean.