Officials figures in the United States have shown that the country's economy grew at its strongest pace since 1984 last year as it bounced back from 2020's pandemic-driven disruptions.

GDP in the world's biggest economy expanded by 5.7 percent in 2021 after shrinking by 3.4 percent the year before, according to America's bureau of economic analysis.

It has not enjoyed such strong one-year growth since when Ronald Reagan was the President nearly four decades ago.

The strength of the recovery picked up in the final quarter of 2021 - to an annualised pace of 6.9 percent - as firms stocked up to meet high demand.

But economists expect it to have slowed at the start of this year reflecting the impact of the Omicron variant.

Households will also not benefit from pandemic-era government cash boosts this year while the Federal Reserve has signalled interest rates starting to rise from March, which could also cool growth.

For 2021 as a whole, consumer spending bounced by 7.9 percent and there was a 9.5 percent increase in private investment.

But there have already been signs of the brakes being applied to the recovery, with retail sales dipping by 1.9 percent in December.

The GDP figures come a day after Fed chair Jerome Powel said that "the economy no longer needs sustained high levels of monetary policy support" and the central bank said a rate rise would soon be appropriate.

(With input from agencies)