Real gross domestic product (average estimate at 1975 prices) is officially estimated to have fallen by nearly ½ per cent in the last quarter of 1978. Nevertheless, the increase for the year as a whole was about 3 per cent. There were falls in the fourth quarter in the volumes of consumers' expenditure (–0.6 per cent), gross fixed investment (–1.8 per cent) and exports of goods and services (–0.8 per cent); public authorities' consumption, however, rose by 1.2 per cent and imports of goods and services fell by 2.3 per cent.