The U.S. economy grew 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, sharply lower than the 2.1 percent growth in the previous quarter, according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday.

The growth was the weakest quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2014.

The sharp slowdown in consumption growth and the downturns in private inventory investment led to the slow growth in the quarter, said the Commerce Department.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, increased only 0.3 percent in the quarter, the smallest increase since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Changes in private inventories subtracted 0.93 percentage points from the growth in the quarter, compared to a contribution of 1.01 percentage points to the growth in the previous quarter, said the Commerce Department.

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