Group predicts GDP will post biggest rise in 9 quarters The gross domestic product will grow at a healthy 4.5 percent annual rate from January through March, according to a new prediction from the National Association for Business Economics. That would be the largest gain since the third quarter of 2003. The group previously had predicted a 3.4-percent increase. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States and is considered the broadest gauge of economic performance. Growth slowed to a 1.1-percent annual pace during the last three months of 2005, the smallest increase in three years. Forecasters say strong first-quarter growth could spur the new Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, to raise interest rates at least twice more this year.