Washington - The US economy shrank 0.7 per cent in the second quarter of the year, according to a government estimate released Wednesday.

The economy shrank at a 0.7 per cent annual rate from April through June, the best performance in more than a year, according to the Commerce Department's revised estimate for the second quarter.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimate was better than economists had expected, and further signalled that the economy should be on its way out of recession in the coming months. GDP contracted at a 6.4 per cent pace in the first three months of 2009. (dpa)